The month of June is our cooling off period for all DUSL players. We urge families to take a break, take family vacations and spend the start of summer relaxing before the teams come together in July, to begin competitive and recreational soccer play. 

We realize that most families take vacations, mini vacations, weekend getaways or just extended trips during this period of the year, and we want to be included...

Introducing the 2019 "Where in the World is DUSL"  contest. As you take your vacations we would love to see where you are, and what you're doing. To participate all you have to do is:

• Take a selfie with any DUSL gear on.
• Try to include an image that symbolize's where you are. If you're at Yosemite put trees in the background, Las Vegas? show the hotels. Cabo? Let's see some sand. Paris? Eiffel Tower would be nice. Bakersfield? How about the Buck Owens Crystal Palace?
• It doesn't matter where you go. It can be around the Bay Area, in California, in other states, or in other countries. We just want to see our DUSL gear worn with pride at your destination location.

Submit pictures to gm@dublinsoccer.org by July 6th 2019 to be considered. Winners will receive prizes so don't delay, send us these pictures right away. 

Former DUSL players took part in a beach soccer tournament at Santa Cruz this month. Alumni including Yusef Hamidi, Josh Mendoza, Tony Castillo, Cole Heinbaugh and others played in the annual Snata Cruz Beach Soccer tournament and they still make our retro jerseys look good!

Are you a trades professional? Do you work in construction, office supply, office management, or graphics? If so we need to talk ASAP!

DUSL has started the process of renovating our office space and we need your help. We are looking for members that can help us with the renovation process. Specifically

• Electrician - 1 hour of work
• Flooring and tile - 3 hours of work
• Painters - 3 hours of work
• House cleaners - 2 hours of work
• Shades and Shutters - 4 windows need covers
• Office Supply - Need office furniture
• Signing - Need exterior and interior signing

If you specialize in any of these trades, we would love to talk to you about helping us with our new office. We are looking for discounts,  donations, or trade outs for DUSL registration. The time frame is tight, so please contact us right away at gm@dublinsoccer.org if you are interested.

Wow...What an exciting time for DUSL.

GROWTH. We just finished a historically large player placement process for 2019, and had the largest turnout in DUSL history. Returning DUSL players, new players transitioning from recreation to competitive, players coming to DUSL from other clubs (Tri Valley, Rage, Ballistic, San Ramon, West Coast, Mustang), and players new to the community all came to player placements. This is a great indicator of the growth in the city of Dublin, and its impact to the long term success of DUSL. 

COACHES. To ensure we provide a quality product for our competitive players, DUSL has hired a staff of over 20 coaches with a wide variety of coaching experience. We have some tenured coaches, former collegiate players coaching, veteran coaches returning to DUSL, nationally licensed coaches, High School coaches, College coaches and  some new coaches. This means our players will receive some of the most diverse and specialized coaching from the DUSL staff.

RECREATION. Around the corner is our Recreational registration. We have already started programs to ensure the recreational leagues have all the resources needed to ensure a fun filled 2019 recreational season. Recreational coaches have already attended coaches meetings, had the option for pre paid officials licensing and training. We have created a team selection committee, to get a jump start on team selections for 2019. The next recreational coaches meeting is less than 2 weeks away. 

SPACE. Did I mention our office? For the first time in our 51 years of existence, DUSL will have an official office for team meetings, coaches meetings, board meetings, and DUSL events. The location is under remodel but will soon be accessible to our membership. Stay tuned for more details on this exciting event for DUSL.

Volunteers. Next week we will open the DIBS program located on this website, for members to fulfill their volunteer hours by helping us with our fireworks booth. We will have many 3 and 6 hour shifts that you can use to get your volunteer deposit back. Please take a look next week and volunteer for a shift or two. Remember once the shifts are filled, we will close this opportunity.

We hope you are excited as we are about the positive changes going on at DUSL. We look forward to seeing all of you and your families on the soccer pitch soon

All the Best

James Fulwiler

DUSL will host the third 2019 Recreational Coaches and Team Managers meeting on Friday June 7th from 7pm - 9pm at the Dublin Library Community Room.

DUSL just had spirit day and we had an amazing show of spirit in all of our local schools. Dougherty, Fredericksen, John Green, Wells, and Quarry Lane were all represented! 
Recreational, Select and Competitive players all showcased their spirit by wearing jerseys, warm ups, tee shirts, hoodies, shorts and bottoms all with DUSL logos on them..And we received some TERRIFIC pictures from our amazing players. We selected SPIRIT winners from the pool of pictures that we received from our membership. 
 

Congratulations to our 18 Winners for wearing the DUSL gear to school and submitting the BEST photo's. Each winner will be issued a ForceField DUSL headgear unit valued at $50. Congratulations.

Today I went early to Fallon Sports Park to set up the field for a training session with my DUSL Team. As I sat in my car I noticed three young men in their mid twenties, laying on the ground, on field #3. After a couple minutes they got up, passed a couple soccer balls around and took shots on goal. Clearly these young men had played soccer before and they still had a love for the game. 

In the heat of the spring day, they spent an hour being young people, just socializing and kicking a soccer ball. I didn't want to disrupt them, but I had to start setting up the field for my training session.

As I got my gear, I walked toward the field and the group of young men noticed. They started to gather their gear to exit the field so I could take over.

One of the young men started to walk toward me. He was 6'2", looked about 25-27 years old, very strong (clearly a weight lifter), and was shirtless. I didn't know what to expect as he approached.

Then I heard him say "Coach James?"...I looked confused, and he could tell by my expression I didn't know who he was. He said "it's me Matt".  My heart immediately warmed as I realized it was Matt (Matty) Samaro. He had grown so much. He was taller, stronger, facial features more defined, but underneath I could still see the kid in him. 

You see, in 2013/2014 I had the privilege to coach Matt at Dublin High School. He was a DUSL alumni and he set an indelible footprint in local soccer folklore. That year, Dublin High School made an unforgettable run in the annual North Coast Section playoffs, battling Hercules High School to bring the SECOND NCS championship home to Dublin. This team was filled with DUSL players and once again Dublin was an underdog. 

The match finished regulation in a 2-2 tie, and after two high intensity extra periods produced a stalemate, the match went to Penalty kicks. 

Matt Samaro was a small player. He wasn't particularly fast, tall or strong. However Matt was a soccer technician with great touch, passing skills, vision, with soccer intelligence. He was quiet, but dominated the ball when he had it. I selected Matt to be the fourth kicker in our first five penalty kick line up.

As destiny would have it, when Matt walked up to the penalty mark, he found himself with the opportunity to win the championship for DHS if he made his shot.....

As I talked to Matt, I learned that he had just graduated from UC San Diego with a degree in pre-medicine and was home visiting his terrific family. He also has been accepted to Indiana University for medical school. Matt was well spoken, intelligent and had his upcoming life plans clearly laid out. While Matt was updating me I found myself reminiscing on his soccer years, and I was so proud to hear that we have another DUSL/DHS soccer player, that has grown to be a highly functional, respectable, and intelligent young man. Knowing that our community, our sport, our coaches and our DUSL soccer club has had a small part in this young mans development, means we made a difference.

That is why we coach.

Back to that NCS penalty kick....Click the link below to see what happened when Matt took his kick.

https://youtu.be/SsFQnqJ38v4

All the Best

James Fulwiler