PHILADELPHIA - Day two of the NSCAA Convention picked up momentum Thursday, the Pennsylvania Convention Center abuzz with activity as all the late arrivals filed in for the gigantic annual event.

And while the day’s headliner was the MLS Draft (read here) there were enough happenings all around to whet the appetite of any soccer afficionado.

Seminars and coaching clinics were put on by the likes of Boston Breakers Tony DiCicco, German Women’s National Youth Team coach Uli Ballweg, South African U20 Men’s National Team coach Macky Chenia along with Maryland coach Sasho Cirovski.

A few of the clinics were attended by TopDrawerSoccer.com correspondents with some interesting findings.

Tiffeny Milbrett, a player for the FC Gold Pride of the WPS, took a group of young females under her wing for a convening titled, “Team Offense: Recognizing the Opportunity to Attack.”

Milbrett harped on initiating the offense and tried to draw the aggressiveness out of her pupils - sometimes a difficult task when coaching young girls. She encouraged freedom to an extent and let them work through their own play and combinations.

Seminar quotable: “Coaches are looking for players to take the initiative, a player where a coach doesn’t have to tell them what to do, they simply say ‘that’s my ball.’ ”   
                    
Across the way, Elite Coaching Director of English FA Dick Bate was putting on a showing called “Developing Possession for the Future of the Game.”

Bate was bubbling with optimism and creativity when challenging a group of young men with the ball at their feet.
                                                
In Bate’s mind, an attacker can dictate the action and be offensive rather than defensive. One of his keys was keeping the ball tight to your body, a technical proficiency that he said defenders recognize and respect. He also encouraged improvising, saying that great players don’t need space and time to do great things.

Seminar quotable: “There’s always a route to escape.”  

As the official online broadcaster for the NSCAA Convention, TopDrawerSoccer.com began its task of delivering you the up-to-the-minute news from the convention’s ground floor.

We capped the evening with 10 exclusive interviews with the likes of Diadora, Lotto, Disney and US Club Soccer. We’ll be bringing you all the sound bites shortly as we leave our special TDS imprint on this 2010 convention.

Up next: The SPY™ Awards. The wait is over for the first-ever award show that recognizes the most innovative soccer products in the industry.

We have a great host for the show in Mike Jerrick whose sparkling career in broadcasting includes co-hosting The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet, producing and hosting WNYW in New York and San Francisco's KPIX-TV, CNBC's America After Hours and morning host of Good Day Philadelphia.

We’ll have a packed house of attendees and nominees all awaiting the crowning of winners in 11 special categories. It’ll be one historic night.

Stay tuned.