The Vancouver Whitecaps were denied a well-earned three points against the Seattle Sounders on Saturday, after Gonzalo Pineda converted a controversial penalty kick to level the score at 2-2. Whitecaps skipper Jay DeMerit was judged to have fouled Sounders striker Cam Weaver, though the "foul" that DeMerit allegedly committed was a mystery to me. In the aftermath of the game, I tweeted this: If we start giving penalty kicks every time players make minimal contact heading crossed balls, well ruin the game. — Jason deVos (@jasondevos) May 25, 2014 To which I received this response: @jasondevos LOL -too late! You already ruined it with your stupid LTPD plan. #keepscore — Jon Empringham (@92jays93) May 25, 2014 While Mr. Empringhams tweet wasnt relative to the Vancouver Whitecaps game against the Seattle Sounders, it did highlight another important point: LTPD, the CSAs long-term player development program, is still very misunderstood. According to his twitter bio, Mr. Empringham is an elementary school teacher who coaches basketball, soccer and track. Given his occupation, he would appear to be the ideal proponent of the principles of LTPD. Yet he seems adamantly opposed to the removal of scores and standings for youth soccer players below the age of 13. While the removal of scores and standings is just one small component of the changes brought forward by LTPD, the concept still faces considerable pushback. I believe that much of that pushback comes from the general publics misunderstanding of the reason why scores and standings have been removed. Keeping scores and standings is not inherently bad for children. We havent been doing young players a disservice all of these years by tracking the results of their games, nor by adding up their wins and losses at the end of their seasons. What we have done, though, is compromise their development by linking their opportunities within the game – perceived or otherwise – to their results on the field. As it is my home province, I will use Ontario to explain. Until the introduction of LTPD, the "Pyramid for Play" (the name of the competitive structure for youth soccer in Ontario) was based on promotion and relegation between multiple tiers. The higher the tier, the more "competitive" the level of play. Tier 1, provincial "rep" soccer, was considered the highest level of play, while Tier 7, local "house league" soccer, was the introductory level. Teams who won their leagues (or finished in the top two or three, in some cases) were promoted to the next highest tier, while teams who finished bottom of their leagues (or finished in the bottom two or three, in some cases) were demoted to the next lowest tier. This movement of teams every year caused a major problem. Players as young as 9 were coming under immense pressure to win promotion - primarily from their coaches and parents. In some cases, failure to win promotion would lead to the break up of an entire team, as players would scatter over the off-season in order to tryout for teams that did win promotion. The concept of promotion and relegation created a false belief amongst coaches and parents that the key to success in the game - the way for kids to "make it" - was to play at the Tier 1 level, which began at the under-14 age category. The years leading up to under-14 were becoming a dogfight, as players jostled to be on a team that was poised to win promotion to Tier 1. It didnt really matter how games were won, or what players were learning, so long as promotion was achieved. The competitive structure itself reinforced this "win at all costs" mentality, and youth soccer in Ontario found itself spiralling into a vicious cycle that was getting worse every year. In my time working as the Technical Director of the Oakville Soccer Club, I once had to gather the parents of an entire age groups competitive program after a fight had broken out amongst parents on the sidelines of an under-10 boys game. On another occasion, I had to intervene on the field of a house league game, as the coaches and parents were incensed by a call made by the referee – who was a 16-year-old girl – and were verbally abusing the young lady. Yet another incident saw a 14-year-old referee leave the field in tears after being verbally abused by spectators at a game. Over time, we have collectively lost sight of the fact that youth soccer is a game that is supposed to be enjoyed by its players, coaches and spectators. Young children shouldnt have to shoulder the burden of "needing to win this game" in order to win promotion or avoid relegation. That pressure is difficult enough for seasoned professional players to handle. Imagine if children had to finish in the top three in their class in order to graduate to the next grade each year? Our school system would devolve into chaos - wed have parents submitting homework and assignments on behalf of their children, as theyd be terrified that their kids would miss out on graduation! Critics have argued that over-competitiveness amongst parents is a societal issue, and that other sports suffer from the same problems. If that is the case though, then surely it is up to our governing bodies to try to better the environments in which our children experience the game of soccer? Surely they should do everything in their power to compensate for our societys failings? Critics have also suggested that, rather than removing scores and standings, we should just remove promotion and relegation from the system. But doing so is far more difficult than it sounds. For starters, how does one determine which teams play at which competitive level? Does one make that determination based on population, geographic location, club size or historical club "success" – all the while knowing that any "success" that was previously achieved was done in a flawed system that was systematically abused? Additionally, there are many people firmly entrenched within the clubs and districts who rule the game in Canada who dont think anything is wrong with how we develop soccer players. Some of those individuals believe this because they do not know what a genuine, player-centric development system should look like, while others believe this because they have a vested financial interest in maintaining the status quo. It is those individuals who will fight the hardest to maintain the previous competitive structure. The only way to combat this is through education – by shining a light on what our real problems are. Because the only way we are going to fix our problems is if we first acknowledge what they really are. It isnt about scores and standings being "bad" for kids. It is about the behaviour that keeping scores and standings brings out in adults. Rasmus Ristolainen Jersey . Arsenal had already scored its goals in the third round fixture when the fierce rivalry turned ugly in the final ten minutes as Walcott was being carried off on a stretcher. Vladimir Sobotka Jersey . -- Athletics manager Bob Melvin is already starting to run out of superlatives to describe Scott Kazmir. http://www.authenticsabrespro.com/Jake-mccabe-sabres-jersey/ . Solomon Elimimian did not make the trip with the team after suffering what appeared to be a right leg injury in the teams regular season finale against the Calgary Stampeders. Conor Sheary Jersey . Thats exactly what happened. And they enjoyed every moment. Durant remained sizzling with 33 points, Serge Ibaka added 22 and the Thunder roared back from an abysmal start -- they trailed 22-4 early -- to embarrass the Miami Heat 112-95 on Wednesday night, erasing that big deficit out of the gate by outscoring the two-time defending champions by 43 points over a 33-minute span. Johan Larsson Jersey . 15 in Hamburg. The fight was originally slated for Sept. 6 but had to be postponed after Klitschko tore a bicep in sparring and was forced to miss four weeks of training.DENVER -- The Colorado Rockies stumbled home this weekend after a 1-9 road trip. After sweeping one of the best teams in baseball, theyre feeling good again. Nolan Arenado hit a go-ahead double in the seventh inning and the Rockies beat Pittsburgh 3-2 Sunday for a three-game sweep of the NL Central-leading Pirates. The Pirates came to Coors Field this weekend with a five-game winning streak. They hold a three-game edge over St. Louis, and visit the Cardinals for a three-game series starting Tuesday night. "We pack it up and we go," Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. "You honestly self-evaluate and move on and get ready to play in St. Louis." Pedro Alvarez homered for the Pirates. The Rockies last swept a series April 16-18 against the Mets on their way to a 13-4 start. They have struggled the last two months to fall from the top of the NL West to out of the playoff race. They bottomed out with their worst road trip since 2007 but bounced back against the streaking Pirates. Rookie Chad Bettis held Pittsburgh in check to keep his team in the game, and Arenado delivered with two outs and the score tied at 2. "As quickly as it can go sour, youve got to believe you can turn it around quickly. Im proud of our guys," Colorado manager Walt Weiss said. "We swept a series against one of the best teams in the game and one of the best pitching staffs." With two outs in the seventh, Wilin Rosario singled off reliever Bryan Morris (5-5). Arenado then doubled down the right-field line to score Rosario from first. "I was looking for cutter or slider middle-away. He threw me a first-pitch fastball in," Arenado said. "If he would have thrown it again I couldve been jammed or not swung. Luckily it was a cutter right over the plate and I was able to put a good swing on it." Matt Belisle pitched a perfect eighth before giving way to Rex Brothers, who worked a shaky ninth for his 10th save in 11 chances. Neil Walker singled to start the ninth and one out later Tony Sanchez doubled to right-centre to put runners on second and third. Weiss went to the mound for a strategy session before pinch-hitter Jordy Mercer stepped into the box. "He had a good look in his eye when I went out there," Weiss said of Brothers. "He wanted to go after Mercer." Brothers got Mercer on a soft liner to third, and after intentionally walking Gaby Sanchez to load the bases, Alex Presley popped out to third to end the game.dddddddddddd Pittsburgh was swept in a series for the first time since June 3-5 at Atlanta. Alvarez showed no ill effects from taking a spike to his mitt from Dexter Fowler on Saturday. Alvarez hit the first pitch he saw from Bettis to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the second inning. It was his NL-leading 28th home run of the season. Andrew McCutchen drove in Clint Barmes with an infield single in the third to make it 2-0. The Rockies made it 2-1 in bottom of the inning when Charlie Blackmon scored on a sacrifice fly by DJ LeMahieu. They tied it in the sixth when Yorvit Torrealba scored on Alvarezs throwing error at third base. The error spoiled a solid outing and took a potential win away from Jeff Locke. The lefty allowed two runs -- one earned -- on three hits, struck out three and walked four in 5 2-3 innings. He left after Blackmons infield single that put runners at first and second with two outs. Locke was hoping to give his team a win heading into the series with the Cardinals, who will be looking for payback after losing four of five in Pittsburgh two weeks ago. "You just come into the off-day and everybody can relax and wash this one away," Locke said. "Theres a lot of anticipation coming into the Cardinals series. Everybodys excited, everybodys ready to go, so I know it will be a challenge. I dont assume its going to go the same way it went last time when they came to our place." Bettis had a better showing in his second career start, allowing just two runs on four hits and striking out three in six innings. The rookie dropped his ERA from 6.30 to 5.06 Sunday. He missed out on his first major league win. Manuel Corpas (2-2) pitched a clean seventh inning to get the victory. NOTES: Alvarezs home run was his first since July 29. ... Rockies OF Michael Cuddyer did not play due to illness. ... Pirates LF Starling Marte was not in the lineup after getting hit with a pitch and having a bruised left hand. He came in as a pinch-runner in the top of the ninth. ... With the Pirates off Monday, rookie RHP Gerrit Cole will have his next start pushed back to Friday against Arizona as the Pirates monitor his innings. ... Pirates RHP Charlie Morton (4-3) will start the opener of a three-game series against the Cardinals. ... Colorados Jhoulys Chacin (10-5) will start Mondays game against San Diego. 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