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. 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As future stars prepare to make the big leap to the professional ranks, TSNs Draft Week delivers wall-to-wall coverage of both the NHL and NBA Entry Drafts, highlighted by exclusive live coverage of both events.ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Howie Kendrick had a two-run single in his first game batting leadoff this season, Chris Iannetta hit a pair of RBI singles and the Los Angeles Angels beat Cleveland 6-4 Tuesday night, sending the Indians to their fifth straight defeat. Cleveland also lost All-Star second baseman Jason Kipnis to an abdominal strain in the fourth inning. Jered Weaver (2-2) allowed two runs and eight hits in 5 1-3 innings, striking out six and walking one. The Angels ace threw 90 pitches and was lifted after giving up four consecutive hits, including a two-run homer by Carlos Santana. Joe Smith, the seventh Angels pitcher, tossed a perfect ninth for his second save in two nights against his former teammates after he was thrust into the closers role last Friday in place of an ineffective Ernesto Frieri. Corey Kluber (2-3) gave up four runs -- three earned -- and four hits over 4 2-3 innings with five strikeouts and four walks. The right-hander escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth, retiring Albert Pujols on a popup after an intentional walk to Mike Trout and then striking out Raul Ibanez with the Indians trailing 2-0. The Angels put runners at the corners in the fifth with the help of a successful replay challenge by manager Mike Scioscia, after first base umpire Gabe Morales ruled J.B. Shuck out on a potential double-play grounder to second base that was corrected to a fielders choice. Shuck stole second, and Kendrick chased Kluber with a two-run single to centre for a 4-0 lead after a walk to Collin Cowgill. That was the only official at-bat for the Angels second baseman, who got plunked by Klubers second pitch of the game, had a sacrifice bunt in the fourth and walked in the seventh. Kendrick became the fifth player Scioscia has started in the leadoff spot. It was the 12th time Kendrick has started there iin his nine-year career, the rest coming in 2010.dddddddddddd. He is 13 for 47 with two homers, 10 RBIs, four walks and eight runs scored when starting atop the lineup, and the Angels are 9-3 in those games. Santana, who hit a three-run homer in Monday nights series-opening 6-3 loss, got the Indians off the mat in the sixth with his two-run shot to right field after a single by Mike Aviles. Michael Brantley then snapped an 0-for-17 drought with a double and went to third on a single by Asdrubal Cabrera that chased Weaver. But Michael Kohn struck out Yan Gomes with the bases loaded after a two-out walk to David Murphy and a visit from pitching coach Mike Butcher. Yoslan Herrera gave way to Nick Maronde with the bases loaded and none out in the Cleveland seventh, and Santana drew a four-pitch walk that forced home a run. Brantley followed with a sacrifice fly that cut the Angels lead to 5-4 and brought in Kevin Jepsen, who struck out Cabrera and retired Jason Giambi on a deep fly. Aviles took over at second base in the fourth for Kipnis, who left with an abdominal strain on his right side after grounding into a double play. NOTES: Ibanez was the only player on the Angels roster that Kluber had faced before. ... Shuck ended a career-worst 0-for-22 drought with a hit-and-run single in the fourth. ... Weaver has pitched 873 innings and faced 3,492 batters since his last intentional walk on Sept. 4, 2009, at Kansas City. ... Cabrera and Santana had two-out bunt singles in the second and fourth, respectively. ... The Indians demoted Wednesdays scheduled starter, RHP Carlos Carrasco, to the bullpen with an 0-3 record and a 6.95 ERA in four outings. RHP Zach McAllister will start on three days rest for the first time in his career after throwing 75 pitches over five innings Saturday in a loss at San Francisco. ' ' '