We've moved our blog!

We've moved our Code Four Athletics soccer coaches blog to a new address, to be closer to home (a.k.a. our Code Four Athletics Soccer Uniforms site). Be sure to visit our new place, bookmark us and enjoy!

Soccer Pinnies on Sale

Buy in bundles of 6 and save! Simply purchase our plain pinnies in packs of six per color/size, and save 15% off our individual pinnie price. Our soccer practices pinnies (or pennies as they're commonly called) are made of lightweight mini-mesh polyester for extra durability. Available in five colors, youth and adult sizes. Includes reinforced stitching.

Court rules World Cup must remain on free TV.

Soccer fans may be able to continue watching World Cup and European Championship matches for free after a European Union court ruled governing bodies can’t strike exclusive pay-TV deals for the games in the U.K. and Belgium.


FIFA and UEFA, the game’s global and European governing bodies, lost court appeals last week against EU decisions allowing nations to make the soccer tournaments available to anyone with access to a TV set.

Restrictions are “justified” to “ensure wide public access to television broadcasts,” the EU General Court, the 27- nation region’s second-highest tribunal, ruled today. Recent statistics show that the system in Belgium and the U.K. to show the World Cup for free drew many viewers, “a significant proportion of whom are not usually interested in football.”

Read the full story here from Bloomberg News.

Julie Foudy: Soccer serves life's greater goals.

Soccer star Julie Foudy recently spoke at a women's athletics luncheon, and discussed the importance of soccer for women. She told the crowd the sport molds more than athletes by serving a far greater purpose in shaping young girls' lives.

"Every day I call on something I learned on the soccer field," Foudy said. "I truly believe it defined who I am as a person, my self-confidence, my self esteem, my discipline, my hard work."

Read the full story for more insightful comments from the two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time World Cup champion.

FREE numbers on Code Four soccer jerseys.

New for 2011: The player number on the back of every Code Four Atheltics soccer jersey you purchase from us is absolutely FREE!

No fine print, no limited-time offer. Just free.

Our 2011 Soccer Catalog Is Now Available. Free.

Our new 2011 catalog of soccer uniforms, warm-ups and gear is now available free of charge. Simply complete our online catalog-request form and we'll mail a copy to you. Or call us at toll free 1-888-411-3687 to request yours today.


See Before You Buy! We'll gladly loan out samples of our uniforms and warm-ups for you and your team to check out. Simply call us to get started.

Soccer For Social Change

For Lawrence Cann, ending homelessness is a team sport that anyone can play. That's why he was recently in Charlotte, NC for a soccer tournament featuring six teams of homeless and formerly homeless players from as far away as Minneapolis.

"We believe homelessness is a symptom of the breakdown of community," said Cann, founder of the nonprofit Street Soccer USA. "We're building that back up."

Cann started a soccer program for the homeless at Charlotte's Urban Ministry Center about five years ago. The goal: Create a structured, familylike environment with a team that helps players build self-confidence and learn life skills while kicking a ball around.

The project has expanded to 19 more cities and boasts a 75 percent success rate in connecting players with jobs, schooling or housing after one year in the program, Cann said. Read the rest of the story from the Charlotte Observer.

If the NFL had soccer jerseys.

An enterprising designed has revamped several NFL teams' jerseys to fit the sponsor-laden culture of MLS. Some of these are pretty cool, so be sure to check 'em out!

If you're interested in soccer jerseys on which you can have your own team logo, we invite you to check us out. Thanks!

Studies Suggest It's Tougher To Play On Turf.

Artificial turf always seems to polarize the soccer community. For more fuel on the fire, check out this recent article regarding the impact of turf on soccer players' energy and performance during a match. 

For related reading, be sure to visit this informative write-up on head injury risk and artificial turf. The article cites an analysis of six different turf surfaces and their potentially damaging effects.

When you're done, we suggest you play it safe by cranking up the FIFA 2011 on your TV!

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!