Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid canceled practice for today, giving the Sounders a weekend off before reporting back on Monday.

“Early in the week on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we’re going to get some testing done as well," Schmid said. "Part of testing is to establish their heart rates and so forth. So from a standpoint of fitness, we can get all the numbers and start to compile those things. It will start Monday with obviously the big beat test, which none of the guys like, but is something we got to do. And there will be some other testing, and we’ll train. It will be a combination of testing and training in the early part of the week. Then we’ll push in the training full again at the end of the week. We’ll keep it at one-a-days until we go down to Ventura (Calif.).”

(Schmid, by the way, used part of his day off to take in the UCLA basketball game at UW. He was shown on the video board and introduced during the second half. Schmid was previouly the Bruins soccer coach.)

Without much more Sounders news expected this weekend (except maybe a personnel addition or subtraction), I'd really appreciate hearing from some of you. I get the internal numbers of views of this blog, and every bit as many folks are reading this blog as my UW basketball blog. Yet the basketball readers are offering far more comments.

I think it's in everyone's interest for this blog to become an interactive thing. So please step right up and share your thoughts on how the first week of training has gone, how you like the current shape of the roster, or the kinds of questions or stories you'd like to see me pursue in my Sounders coverage. Etc. No limits. Just keep it clean enough where I don't have to pull out the yellow card.

Here's a news release from the PASL:

The Tacoma Stars of the Premier Arena Soccer League (PASL-Premier) find themselves in the quarterfinals of the US Arena Soccer Open Championships after upsetting the Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL-Pro) Wenatchee Fire 10-9 in overtime on Saturday.

Tacoma is currently the only PASL-Premier team to beat a PASL-Pro team in the 25 team tournament. Led by Greg Howes, the Stars rallied from a 9-6 deficit to send the game into overtime where Howes' fourth goal of the game ended it in sudden death.

The Stars will now host the Denver Dynamite, another PASL-Pro team, on January 25 at The Soccer Center in Tacoma at (noon). If Tacoma wins they will face the Stockton Cougars in the semifinals.

The Stars are led on and off the field by Howes. The 31-year old three-time MISL MVP and Tacoma native was signed in the offseason as the Head Coach and director of the Tacoma Stars Academy Program.

Other notable players include former MISL player Lee Williams and goalkeeper Chris Kintz, who join Howes on the US National Arena Soccer Team (USNAST), and Erik Sterling. Sterling is one of 10 finalists out of 1,000 entrants in the MLS Sounders Super Search open tryout.

Denver is 5-6 in the PASL-Pro season and reached the quarterfinals by beating the Ft. Collins Fury and Colorado Lightning. Player/coach Chris Handsor is the team's leading scorer with 12 goals and 14 assists in 11 games. Ryan Creager, Tony Thomas, Jay Hamilton, Garth Archibald, and goalkeeper Justin Dzuba also all have caps on the USNAST.

The Stars have excelled in the 51 team PASL-Premier, winning the National Summer Championship in 2004 and four Northwest Division titles from 2003 to 2007.

"We knew when we formed this tournament that one or more of the professional teams would lose to a Premier team," said PASL Commissioner Kevin Milliken. "The PASL-Premier has been in existence for 11 years, and it has developed some very good players and teams."

About Professional Arena Soccer League
PASL-Pro is a new professional league which began play on October 25, 2008 when the Stockton Cougars defeated the Colorado Lightning, 10-5 at Stockton Arena. The 2008-09 season concludes with Championship Weekend March 13-15 at Stockton Arena. PASL-Pro consists of 8 US teams, the CMISL, and LMFR. The San Diego Sockers have been added for the 2009/10 season. PASL-Premier just completed its 10th season as the nation's top amateur arena soccer league. PASL-Pro and PASL-Premier are members of Federacion Internacional de Futbol Rapido (FIFRA).