Study shows effectiveness of small-sided soccer games.

From one of our favorite sites, The Science of Soccer Online, comes another interesting article backed by detailed research and data.

What's better for improving technical skills? How about cardiovascular fitness? Read it and find out!

Happy Holidays from Code Four!

From the Code Four family to yours, best wishes for the most joyous of seaons---holiday and soccer! On behalf of our entire crew, thank you for your interest in our brand this year.

Best wishes,
Mike Carter
CODE FOUR ATHLETICS

Seattle Soccer Examiner takes a look at Code Four Athletics.

Writer David Falk is all over soccer in the Puget Sound, covering players and teams at all levels. He's expanded his coverage to include Seattle-area soccer shops, brands and businesses. He's just written about our soccer specialty brand. We invite you to check out the Seattle Soccer Examiner story when you have a few minutes.

If you'd like to visit our site directly, go to Code Four Athletics Soccer Uniforms. There's no wait, parking's always free, and you can shop in your pajamas.

British soccer team loses 55-0.

Think you're having a bad season? Think again. The goalkeeper for Madron FC of Britian's Cornwall Mining League, on average, picks the ball out of his own net once every 4.36 minutes. After losing its opening matches by the relatively modest margins of 11-0, 4-1 and 16-0, the team slumped to 27-0 and 27-1 defeats before succumbing, two sorry Saturdays ago, to a monumental 55-0 thrashing.

The squad did rebound last Saturday, as it were, losing just 22-0.

In 11 matches this season, says stand-in team manager Alan Davenport, Madron have scored two goals and conceded 227. It's a degree of sporting incompetence that has won the team admiring mentions not just in the national press, but in sporting newspapers as far afield as France, Italy and even Brazil. Madron plays in the U.K.'s 13th-level league. (Think Premier League, then go down 12 notches.)
Davenport, who's also the club's secretary, treasurer and chairman, is not letting it get him down. "Morale's high," he says. "Heads are up. We're getting better."

A dispute over money lies at the root of the club's troubles. At the start of this season, its newly promoted first team walked out en masse when Davenport informed them they had to pay their subs. "Fourteen players – guys who hadn't lost a single match the whole of last season – just upped and left," he says. "Their manager had told them that they needn't pay, but we're a very small club . . . So I then had to put a scratch team together. For the first division."

The coach decided it would not be fair to plunder the club's second team, which could win its division this season. "So we played with who we could get," he says. "Unfortunately, that mostly means lads of 16 or 17 who haven't really played football before and can't get a game anywhere else. Often there aren't enough of them, either. In 11 games, we've fielded three full teams."

Now at Code Four: Soccer Gift Cards.

A Code Four Athletics soccer gift card is always the perfect fit! It never expires, and there's never a fee. Gift cards are available in denominations of $25, and are good toward all Code Four products. They can be accepted online, over the phone or in person.

To order, call toll free 1-888-411-3687. Gift cards can be mailed or emailed for free.

What are you waiting for? Start shopping!

Soccer Referee Jerseys, Gear now at Code Four.

Whether you're signed up to center ref or be an AR, we've got you covered with soccer referee jerseys, shorts and gear. With our partner Champion Sports, we offer ref shirts in 3 colors, two styles of linesman flags, plus other acessories you'll need for the pitch. Check 'em out - then play on!

Chilean Miners Play Soccer Friendly With Rescuers

The 33 Chilean miners who just emerged after two months trapped underground played in a friendly match against their rescuers last week. "[They're] great players," joked Chilean President Sebastián Piñera, "but they're a bit out of shape."

Led by Franklin Lobos, a former professional who won several international caps during the 1980s, Team Esperanza – Spanish for "hope" – came up short against the team of rescuers, 3-2. Though all of "Los 33" have made a full recovery from their ordeal, they were allowed to use rolling substitutions, to help them keep up with their opponents, who included the mining minister Laurence Golborne and several of their rescuers.

Despite the supposed advantage, Team Esperanza – whose players ranged in age from 19 to 63 – was unable to prevent the winning goal in the friendly, played at Chile's national stadium, being slotted home by Pinera.

Earlier in the day, the men had been presented with a special medal marking the 200th anniversary of Chile's independence, which fell while they were trapped inside the San Jose mine in the desert near Copiapo.

The game was arranged after the men were saved from underground, when rescuers visited them at the hospital in Copiapo. At the time, the President joked that the winners would get to sleep in La Mondea (the Presidential palace) for the night, while the losers would go back down the mine.

Every once in a while we get a call from a TV-commercial or movie-production person needing soccer uniforms or accessories for their film shoot. (Remember the ensemble romantic comedy Valentine's Day earlier this year? Our goalie jersey almost became a star but ended up on the cutting room floor.) From regional-bank ads to snowboarding magazine spreads, our soccer gear has graced the promotional-product world in a variety of ways.



The latest: this 30-second spot for Tony Chachere's creole seasoning, based in New Orleans and sold worldwide. The soccer players featured in their ad needed white soccer shorts and bright socks to match their color scheme, and Code Four was happy to oblige. (Our same-day shipping didn't hurt, either...these folks always seem to need everything yesterday.)

Go Tony!

Man Gets Full Soccer Jersey Tattoo To Honor Team Icon

Felipe Alvarez, an Atletico Nacional supporter, decided to pay homage to murdered club legend Andres Escobar by having a replica Atletico shirt tattooed across his torso, complete with Escobar's number on the back.

 

We're not sure about you, but we might suggest a less-permanent solution: one of our team jerseys to show your support. You don't have to wear it 24-7, it doesn't leave unsightly stretch marks, and you can frame it on your wall when your playing days are over.  

Goal From Half Line!

From a recent Scotland-vs-Iceland match...tough to defend this one!

5 Ways To Improve Your Soccer Skills

1 TOUCH. Juggle with the ball. Aim for 1000 touches on the ball each day. You learn to juggle in 3 stages, 1-3 juggles, 3-10 juggles, 10+ juggles. To help you get started, you can use your hands and you can let the ball bounce as well, all you are aiming for is lots of touches on the ball. The hardest stage is 3-10 touches, this seems to cause beginners the most frustration, but stick with it. Once you can consistently juggle the ball 10 times, you are off to the races and 10-20 gets easier, the 50, then 100 and beyond.

2. PASS and/or SHOOT against a WALL. Find a wall and pass and shoot against it and control the rebound. This may sound simple and basic, but it is no different to going to the driving range to practice your golf shot or using one of those machines at tennis that serve balls to you. You can work on passing, shooting and controlling the ball and start with controlling the ball first and then passing or shooting and then build up to first time passes and shots.

3. TURNS. Practice all six turns, INSIDE HOOK, OUTSIDE HOOK, DRAG BACK, STEPOVER, CRUYFF and STOP TURN. Master each turn at game like speed and then do combinations of turns e.g. inside hook, take a touch into space and then do a stop turn. Keep working on this until you can do routines involving all 6 turns one after another.

4. MOVES/DRIBBLES. There are so many fancy moves, some named after stars e.g. Stanley Matthews, Maradona, Scissors, Touch Touch etc. You don’t need to know how to do all of them. Just perfect two moves that you can do with both feet and that you can both take on the defender on their inside and outside. When I say perfect them, you need to be able to do these at game like speed without looking at the ball and be able to produce an end product, either a shot or a pass.

5. CONTROL. Find some open space and kick the ball up in the air. As it comes down work on controlling it with your feet, thighs, chest and head. Once you get the hang of controlling the ball, then add a turn or a move or a shot or pass against the wall.

FINALLY: Concentrate on these five areas and you'll be one of the best players on the pitch. Along with that, you and your team will want to look sharp...so of course we suggest you check out our exclusive collection of soccer uniforms when have time inbetween all of that practice!

Matty Burrows buries it.

Check out this off-the-heel winner from yesterday's Glentoran match!

33 years ago on October 1st: Pele's last match.

They say all good things must come to an end and that proved to be true today in 1977 as the career of the world’s most famous footballer came to a close, as Brazilian legend Pele played his last game at Giants Stadium in New York.

For the last three years Pele had been plying his trade for the New York Cosmos in the short-lived NASL, where he shared the pitch with the likes of Franz Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberto and Giorgio Chinaglia. His final game was a friendly with Santos, the only other club side he had played for during his illustrious twenty-one year old career.

As was the case with the NASL, hype and over exuberance were the order of the day. Covered by 650 journalists from 38 nations, the game was the hottest ticket in town, and the Cosmos had unintentionally over-sold the fixture, as almost 100,000 had managed to buy tickets for the 77,000 capacity stadium. A public relations disaster, and a host of lawsuits were narrowly avoided when the organisers gave out refunds and free tickets for future games.

Celeb-spotters had a field-day also, as President Jimmy Carter made a speech for Pele and he was joined in the dressing by a certain Muhammad Ali, who characteristically said that “I don’t know if he’s a good player, but I’m definitely prettier than him.” He would later admit that “now there are two of the greatest,” confirming their place as the planets two most recognisable sports stars.
The game itself saw Pele play the first half for the Cosmos, where he would score his final goal with a thirty-yard free kick, and the second half for Santos. At half-time Pele’s number ten shirt was retired and full-time saw yet more speeches and flag-waving amongst the pomp and circumstance of the day. The only sour note of the day was the fact that it was pouring it down with rain by the end of the game, but a Brazilian newspaper explained that it was because “even the sky was crying.”

Vuvuzelas banned from Euro 2012, Champions League.

UEFA has banned fans from bringing vuvuzelas into stadiums for European Championship and Champions League matches. UEFA said Wednesday it wanted to protect the culture and tradition of fans singing at European soccer matches from the "negative effect" of the South African plastic trumpets made famous - and notorious - at the World Cup.

"UEFA feels that the instrument's widespread use would not be appropriate in Europe," the organization said in a statement. All 53 European soccer nations have been told to enforce the ban at UEFA's national team and club competition matches.

Vuvuzelas provided the World Cup soundtrack in South Africa, where every match was accompanied by a low-pitch drone likened to a swarm of buzzing bees. FIFA refused to ban vuvuzelas despite repeated calls from players and broadcasters, defending them as part of South African soccer culture. However, they have since been banned by organizers of events such as basketball's world championship and the Little League World Series, and by most English Premier League clubs.

The ban will take effect when qualifying for Euro 2012 begins today, and when the group stage of the Champions League and Europa League starts in two weeks. European broadcasters, who developed sound filters during the World Cup to try to control the vuvuzela noise, will likely be pleased by the ban.

Valuable television rights deals help to ensure that the Champions League earns more than $1.28 billion in commercial revenue each season.

Mayor Kicks Kid In Face; Not Good in Re-Election Year.

Last week a chartiy soccer match took place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, pitting the city's officials against some local children. Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz took part, much to the chagrin of the kid on the receiving end of his high kick. 

Mr. Mayor was awarded a yellow card for his actions, not to mention much grief and probably a few less votes in the upcoming election.

Click here to see the video from Deadspin.com. 

Hair-pulling Soccer Player Reinstated

Elizabeth Lambert, the New Mexico women's soccer player who became notorious on YouTube for her vicious play in conference tournament game last year, will be back on the field. Lambert has been reinstated for her senior season after serving a two-game suspension. Her worst offense was grabbing the hair of BYU's Kassidy Shumway and jerking her to the ground, but the game was physical on both sides.

Surprisingly, there was only one misconduct card handed out by officials.

Lambert didn't attend a news conference where school officials discussed her reinstatement. Here's the video of lowlights from last year's game.

Beckham still makes the most MLS bucks

According to the latest Major League Soccer Players Union salary list released just last week, superstar David Beckham tops the league with a guaranteed salary of $6.5 million.

The New York Red Bulls employ three of the five highest earners in the league: Thierry Henry at #2 ($5.6 million), Rafael Márquez ($5.544 million) at #3, and forward Juan Pablo Ángel ($1.918 million) at #5. Sliding into #4 overall is the most well-compensated American player, Landon Donovan, who will pull down $2.128 million this year.

Three other players round out the MLS millionaires' club: Chicago Fire forward Nery Castillo ($1.788 million), Toronto FC midfielder Julian de Guzman ($1.718 million) and Chicago's Freddy Ljungberg ($1.314 million).

On the other end of the spectrum, more than 90 MLS players are being paid the league minimum of $40,000 for their work this season. Fittingly, one of those players is Graham Zusi of Kansas City, who appears at the very end (as alphabetized by last name) of the salary list.

The way we figure, good ol' Becks could afford to buy one of our 'Nova' soccer jerseys (team price of just $20) for 325,000 of this closest friends.

Soccer Practice Makes Perfect. Plan Ahead.

As a soccer coach, you know it's very important to decide what skill or technique you want your players to work on before you step onto the practice field. You also need to decide how you're going to organize the practice and what warm-ups, games and drills you're going to use.

Where to begin? Our friends at Footy4Kids have put together a great array of soccer practice plans including drills, techniques, games and skill-building exercises focused on specific aspects of the game. Ball handling, dribbling, passing, defense, shooting, keeper training...it's all here.

For more helpful info, visit the Soccer Training Books & DVDs page of our Code Four Athletics website. Or if you just need a cool shirt for the sideline, check out our soccer coach polo. Happy Coaching!

Great Goalie Saves

For those of you who need a little shot of soccer goalie saves, we present 3 1/2 minutes of keeper classics. Enjoy!

Penalty Kick...FAIL.

Off the crossbar? Fine. Just past the post? Sure. But this?

Great Goal Celebration.

In case you missed it, check out this goal celebration...it even made ESPN's Top 10 Plays last week.

Sneaky PK.

Check out this creative PK from this past weekend's U-19 match between Spain and Italy. You must wait until about 25 seconds in for the close-up slo-mo replay to truly appreciate it.

Golden (Goal) Girls: Soccer-Playing Grandmas

In case you missed it: a great little story about some South African women who leave their troubles behind when they hit the pitch.

Juggle A Virtual Soccer Ball On Your iPhone

Now this is an app we can truly appreciate. Check it out!

World Cup Withdrawals? Take In Some Soccer Movies!

Even though the globe's biggest soccer event is over, you can still feed your fever with a soccer movie or two. Check out this solid starting eleven, or if that’s not enough, take a look-see at a list of 30 soccer films for your viewing pleasure.

Best part: You can hit the ‘mute’ button to silence any scenes featuring overzealous vuvezelas.

Speaking of vuvezelas: thought we share one last shot of a young noise-making fan, taken at last week's Seattle Sounders-LA Galaxy matchup at Starfire Sports in Tukwila, WA.

We drove our Code 4 soccer ball car there, stood the full 90 with the rest of the raving fans, and had a grand ol' time. Nothing beats professional soccer up close and personal!

How Girls' Soccer Helps Women In The Workforce.

Wear a soccer uniform one day, and chances are you’ll be trading it in for a power suit when you grow up. Or so concludes a recent study that looked at the chicken-and-egg question: Does playing sports help people become more successful, or are successful people just more likely to play sports?

In her paper titled, "Beyond the Classroom: Using Title IX to Measure the Return to High School Sports," Wharton business and public policy professor Betsey Stevenson offers empirical evidence that playing sports leads to more education and better employment opportunities.

Stevenson's paper focuses on Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which expanded high school athletic opportunities for girls. Her research compares the variation in outcomes across states for girls who went to school before Title IX and after, and concludes that playing sports paid off.

"A ten percentage point rise in state-level female sports participation generates a one percentage point increase in female college attendance and a one to two percentage point rise in female labor force participation," she notes. "Furthermore, greater opportunities to play sports lead to greater female participation in previously male-dominated occupations, particularly high-skill occupations."

For the full story, including a PDF of Professor Stevenson’s paper, visit the Knowledge@Wharton website. In the meantime, we’ll see you on the pitch!

Vuvuzelas, tough turf and other World Cup complaints.

If it’s not one thing it’s another, so say some of the pundits involved with this year’s tournament. Get the full story from our friends at the Washington Post, including a great gallery of pictures.

Speaking of pictures: Our customer testimonials page features some nice shots of players our soccer uniforms, warm-ups and goalie gear. We’re a bit biased, but we think they look great. If you get a break from following the World Cup, check ‘em out.

World Cup win for Spain could pay off big for players.

MURCIA, Spain (Associated Press) — Spain will reportedly receive the most money out of all 32 World Cup teams if it wins the World Cup, and several Spanish political parties are unhappy at the figure with the country facing an economic crisis. The Spanish media said each player could earn 600,000 euros ($734,000) for winning the title, and collect 120,000 euros ($144,000) just for reaching the July 11 final.

Political party Izquierda Unida asked how such an amount could be paid "in the context of a general crisis where pensions are being frozen and salaries are dropping."

Goalkeeper Iker Casillas says the players have family and friends "suffering from the crisis" but that "you shouldn't mix one thing with the other."

With nearly three-quarters of a mil' each player on the team could purchase more than 36,000 of our 'Velocity' soccer jerseys (shown below) or 100,000 of our soccer ball bags...and that's just at the team price. Chances are we'd be able to get them some type of volume discount. 

David Silva's goal, Spain vs Poland

Check out the ball movement within the tight spacing...another reason why Spain's a favorite to win the World Cup.

It's Soccer Tournament Time!

Summer is pretty much upon us, and everywhere you look soccer tournaments are kicking it into high gear. Among our favorites: The Yak Attack in Yakima, WA, a fun-filled, rip-roaring-of-a-good-time 5-on-5 tournament/festival for kids and adults. In fact, the tournament’s slogan is, “If your coach doesn’t know how to have a good time, GO WITHOUT THE COACH!”

The 8th annual event, which took place last month, featured the always-popular soccer uniform contest sponsored by yours truly, Code Four Athletics. To qualify, teams had to create their own interesting/whacky/unique uniforms, and play all games in them. An esteemed panel of judges chose the best, awarding them a certificate toward our soccer specialty brand of soccer jerseys, uniforms or soccer gear.

The Happy Cows, shown here, took top honors with their udderly creative uniforms honoring heifers everywhere. We particularly appreciate the team mascot, who took one for the team in that costume as temperatures rose throughout the weekend.

If you’re looking for your own custom soccer uniforms, albeit a bit more mainstream than the Happy Cows, keep us in mind!

Top Goals from World Cup Qualifiers

Stuff like this never gets old!

Team USA soccer announces 23-man squad for World Cup

The final roster for the U.S. men's soccer team competing in next month's World Cup is now official. Team "USA" might be a misnomer, as 19 of the 23 teammates currently play professionally outside the United States, representing clubs from ten different countries. Among the 4 MLS players is LA Galaxy forward Edson Buddle, who is pretty much the only 'Edson Buddle' that comes up when you Google his name.

The average age of this year's squad is 27, making it the youngest team since the 1994 World Cup.

For more details and other fun facts, check out the full story.

While we at Code Four Athletics aren't in a position to sponsor the World Cup, we'd be more than happy to buy you a cup of coffee. If you're ever in Renton, WA, stop on by and see us. Just look for our cool soccer-ball car out front!

Best soccer jersey color? Think pink.

VANCOUVER, B.C. (Wireless Flash - FlashNews) – The tough guys playing in the 2010 World Cup could benefit from sporting pink jerseys.


Color therapy expert Susanne Murphy says all hues emit certain energies and could affect how teams play in the big soccer tournament. She once played in a co-ed flag football league where her entire team – guys included – wore pink and they became THE team to beat. That’s because pink carries positive, “cosmic” energy, and its red undertones help harness physical strength and endurance. Since it’s more subdued than red, it also calms.

Murphy thinks pink would help World Cup athletes be “just aggressive enough” without losing their tempers and getting tons of penalties. She thinks too much pure red in their jerseys could lead to fights on the field because it’s such a passionate color. Instead, athletes should just wear red underwear underneath their uniforms. For optimal focus, she recommends soccer studs go over plays in a room painted yellow prior to games.

Whatever color personally suits you, we've got you covered with our Code Four Athletics Pioneer soccer jersey, available in pink, red and 13 other hues.

Sports Illustrated feature out today: The Beautiful Game

The latest SI cover story is about soccer, and what it means to the world. Writer Grant Wahl's Facebook page features 3 articles from the issue, out today.

While we haven't covered the world (yet), Code Four Athletics has outfitted teams with our brand of soccer uniforms in all 50 states since our founding in 1998. If you're in the market for soccer gear, check us out. Thanks!

SOUTH AFRICANS BEING ASKED TO CONSERVE ELECTRICITY DURING WORLD CUP

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -- Authorities are asking foreign fans to join South Africans in saving electricity during the World Cup to avoid power cuts, and will broadcast warning messages about consumption on incoming flights.
The country was crippled by a power crisis in early 2008, caused by years of neglect of generation capacity, that severely damaged industrial output including the vital mining sector.

The country is now building new power stations but the program will not be complete until 2012. Supply problems are aggravated by cable theft. Partial power cuts in some city districts are still common and traffic lights are frequently out.

Soccer's governing body http://FIFA.com has insisted that big generators are installed in all the 10 World Cup stadiums. Power utility Eskom said in a statement that supplies would very likely be sufficient during the month-long World Cup starting on June 11 but called on the public to use electricity sparingly.

"It is expected that more than 200,000 tourists will arrive in South Africa during the next few weeks and although electricity supply is expected to be sufficient over this period, cold winter temperatures combined with high electricity demand are likely to place Eskom under additional pressure," the utility's Nosipho Maphumulo said.

Eskom is introducing a new system on public television channels this week with a referee holding up color-coded cards to indicate the power situation, ranging from green for stable supply to black when power grid load shedding begins.
At that point, the public will be asked to turn off everything except one light and a television to watch the matches.

Celibacy Over Soccer: England fans would give up sex for World Cup win.

According to a recent poll from UK-based milkshake brand Frijj, male England fans are so desperate to see the national team win the World Cup that 12% say they would give up sex for a year if it happened. About 10% said they'd dump their girlfriend. A third of the respondents are so keen for a first win since 1966 they would do the housework for 12 months.

Neuropsychologist David Lewis said the reason why fans would give up sex for a year is to be found in a region of the brain called the nucleus accumbens. "It floods mind and body with 'feel-good' chemicals when we anticipate something pleasurable," he said. "So you could say that fans are giving themselves an intense but perfectly legal high as they anticipate an English victory."

Although we wouldn't touch that poll with a 10-foot pole, you can chime in on our blog's "Who Will Win the World Cup?" poll. Want the US to win? Vote for 'em and show your support with one of our USA Flag soccer pins!

Happy Mudders Day

Underneath all that mud are members of the OSC Sassy Sounders, decked out in our Code Four Athletics ‘Spitfire’ soccer jersey and ‘Winchester’ soccer shorts. We’re not sure if they won the match, but it sure looks like they had fun.

Remember kids: wash in cold water, tumble dry low.

Code Four soccer car makes first parade appearance of season

A couple weeks ago, the 77th annual Daffodil Parade took place under the sunny skies of south-central Washington state. There were ponies, princesses, cars and clowns. Floats, furry animals, musicians and magic. And smack dab in the middle of it all was our Code Four soccer ball car, strolling down the street with players and parents of the Orting Soccer Club (Orting, WA).

The kids were all sporting their Code Four soccer jerseys, while doing their best ‘parade wave’ to the crowd and handing out candy. Lots and lots of candy.

All of us on the Code Four crew appreciate taking part in this event, a terrific example of small-town spirit and community pride that just makes you smile. Many thanks to the folks from Orting for inviting us, and to everyone who helped make it such a fun day. We’ve included some pictures of the festivities – enjoy.

Why Bozo's On Our Blog

This week we decided it was time to do a little Spring cleaning in our Code Four warehouse. Amid the presentation boards covered in dust, long-forgotten soccer jersey prototypes and sketches of warm-up jackets that seemed like a good idea at the time, we found a gem: a life-size cardboard cutout of Bozo The Clown.

He was one of several cutouts we bought many years ago, as part of a display at a local auction. We dressed up Bozo, along with James Dean and the Three Stooges, in Code Four Athletics soccer uniforms to be sold off during the event. Not only did the soccer gear go to the highest bidder, but at some point so did Moe, Larry and Curly.

Bozo’s return got us to thinking: What size shoes did he wear? (Hey, we don’t think about soccer ALL the time.) Turns out size 83AAA, according to an old interview with the late Larry Harmon, one of the most prolific Bozo portrayers in history. NBC weatherman Willard Scott also played Bozo from 1959-62 on local TV in Washington, DC.

We’ll leave you with those tidbits of trivia, and let you know if we turn up anything else of interest.


 

Hoops and Hoodies

Did you know we do more than just soccer uniforms and gear? We also provide great team and fan apparel such as hooded sweatshirts, T-shirts and more….not only for soccer teams, but other sports as well.

Case in point: the mighty Mustangs, a girls’ basketball team from Kent, WA. The players recently completed their second season together, compiling a 16-0 record along the way. Rather than go with the standard trophy, the parents decided a nice, warm customized team hoodie would make a great year-end gift. (We didn’t argue.)

So while they put it all together on the hardwood, we took care of business off the court from logo design, to printing to delivery. Way to go, Mustangs!

Another cool Code Four customer.

Darek Stuj realized a long time ago that the real route to happiness was helping other people. Over the years he’s assisted homeless people, worked in orphanages in Belarus and Poland, and sponsored several Maasai Tribe children in the Kimana Village of southern Kenya. It was in this village where he conceived the ‘Kenya Project’ to bring clean drinking water to its inhabitants.

More than a dozen workers from Darek’s company, Rainbow of Magnolia Landscaping of Seattle, WA, agreed to donate an entire week’s wages to the cause. With its initial mission accomplished, the project quickly expanded to procure property and supplies for the village’s school system. Accordingly, the local community re-named the project ‘Rainbow of Magnolia – Fountains of Life.’

Along the way, the organization helped establish track and soccer teams for the village’s youth, which is how we came to meet Darek. He recently supplied the kids with our Code Four Athletics brand of soccer uniforms.

The Fountains of Life folks continue to work tirelessly, focusing on education reform and improving local living conditions. Driven by Darek’s vision, they have singlehandedly renewed the hopes and dreams of these Maasai families. All of us at Code Four applaud them and their efforts.

What's the right height? Study says taller soccer players draw more fouls!

According to a new study by a couple of researchers out of the Netherlands, soccer referees forced to make quick decisions on questionable foul calls are more likely to rule against the taller player.

Niels van Quaquebeke and Steffen Giessner, researchers at Erasmus University's Rotterdam School of Management, reached the conclusion after studying 123,844 fouls from seven Champions League and German Bundesliga seasons, along with the last three World Cups.

Among the information presented in the full story reported by the Associated Press, the researchers surmised that human nature was to blame. "Humans throughout evolution needed to be more afraid of bigger animals because bigger animals usually have more potential to harm us," said van Quaquebeke. "We are human beings, we are not objective information processors...we are very subjective, especially if we don't have all the information available. We've got to make the best guess."

Our guess? Shorter players get the calls by being better actors!