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Palm Beach Post (Florida)

February 14, 1999, Sunday, FINAL EDITION

BOCA JUNIOR SOCCER TEAM GETS UNDIVIDED DIRECTION

BYLINE: Greg A. Bedard

SECTION: SPORTS, Pg. 19C, AREA NOTES

LENGTH: 464 words

They are 56-0-0 in two years of competition and have outscored opponents
501-21. This season, they are 12-0-0, while outscoring opponents 91-5.

Who are these world beaters? They are the Boca Juniors, a group of under-9
boys soccer players from west Boca Raton. That's right: a team filled with 7and
8-year-olds.

If you've ever attended a soccer game played by that age group, you are
probably shaking your head. You've seen how they run around the field in a pack
around the ball, kicking and flailing until someone makes solid contact and
moves the pile to the other side of the field.

But the Boca Juniors and coach Joesph Schulz are attempting to change all
that.

Schulz, 46, played for 12 years and had 418 caps (games played for your
country) in the Austrian first division. He also coached in the first division
for six years and led Rapid Vienna to the European Cup Final as general manager.

Schulz, who has studied the development of youth soccer players for years,
decided to start Boca Juniors, after moving to Boca Raton.

"Everybody who showed up was on the team," Schulz recalled of that first
practice. "They were just beginners or they couldn't play somewhere else because
they weren't good enough. Also, nobody gave us a field."

From there the team and program, now boasting 100 players, has flourished.
Not only does the team have a 56-game unbeaten streak, but it also has titles at
the Disney Cup and the Plantation Thanksgiving tournament.

When a team from Argentina's premier soccer school came for a match, the
Juniors defeated them 7-0, leaving the Argentinian coaches amazed.

"The most important thing is that kids in this age group learn easy and
fast," Schulz said. "If you teach them the right things, they learn well very
quickly. If you just throw a ball out there and let them develop bad habits,
it's very hard to correct them in the future."
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BOCA JUNIOR SOCCER TEAM GETS UNDIVIDED DIRECTION Palm Beach Post (Florida)
February 14, 1999, Sunday,

Two players that have taken to Schulz and his teachings are Josmer Altidore
and Vincent Dibullo, both 8-years old.

Schulz says Altidore has "super athletic ability" and has shown it with 34
goals in 12 games. Dibullo is the team's captain and has scored 16 goals.

"He listens very well and picks things up very quickly," Schulz said about
Dibullo.

Schulz says that the kids are having fun while progressing.

"They grow up in the same level they should, it's just that I analyze it a
little more," he said. "They have more than fun. The games and drills we play
develop their skills and they don't even know it. They think it's a bunch of
fun."

Definitely more than their opponents are having.

Know a player or team with an interesting story? Email Greg A. Bedard at

greg_bedard@pbpost.com or call him at (561) 820-4440 or (800) 432-7595 ext.
4440. Fax to (561) 820-4481.

LOAD-DATE: February 17, 1999

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

TYPE: COLUMN

Copyright 1999 Palm Beach Newspaper, Inc.