jiangsu edu

After a solid run of action the last few weeks, Rangers midfielder Maurice Edu says he is hoping to continue his advanced education on the field of play.

The 22-year old waited nearly four months between competitive appearances, and says his recent participations have given a clear picture of the facets of his game that still need some work, most notably increasing speed of play.

Beginning with a February 18th Scottish Cup win at Forfar Athletic, Edu started three of four matches, including consecutive league tilts. The California native was largely satisfied with his efforts, but knows he has room to get better.

“I think I’m adjusting well to the game out here, but can still improve a lot,” Edu told Soccer365. “I was happy to get a couple starts recently and that’s good.”

“I feel, with games, is when you really get to test yourself and see how much you’ve grown.”

It also can’t hurt development when the coaching staff is behind you, and Edu has been shown nothing but encouragement from manager Walter Smith and right hand man Ally McCoist.

“The manager and the coaches have been good for me,” said the U.S. international. “They’ve pointed out some things to me I can do differently to put myself in better positions, as well as to help me play quicker.”

“They encourage me to continue to be a box-to-box player by breaking up plays defensively and getting forward into the box.”

Edu’s next chance to get in the game comes in Sunday’s Scottish League Cup final at Hampden Park in Glasgow.

Two innovative bicycling projects — a new U of M Bike Center with a first-of-its-kind rider frequency program and a 1,000 bike sharing program in Minneapolis — are among the more than $4 million worth of biking and walking improvements which will be announced by Tuesday by Bike Walk Twin Cities, a federally-funded initiative to increase biking and walking and reduce driving in Minneapolis and neighboring communities.

University of Minnesota President Robert Bruininks and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak will be the featured speakers at a special announcement ceremony beginning at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, March 10 at the site of the to-be-opened U of M Bike Center in the Oak Street Parking Ramp, 401 Oak Street S.E., Minneapolis. Lea Schuster, executive director of Transit for Livable Communities (TLC), will announce a total of six Bike Walk Twin Cities projects, including grants to St. Paul and Edina. TLC is the nonprofit organization designated by federal law to administer the $21 million Bike Walk Twin Cities initiative. Bruininks and Rybak will speak about how these biking innovations will help transform the U of M and the city of Minneapolis into more bike-friendly environments.

On display will be renderings of the state-of-the-art U of M Bike Center, a demonstration Bike Share security bike and more information on the U of M’s pioneering “Radio Frequency ID” (RFID) technology. The RFID system, set to be implemented for the first time ever at the U of M, effectively solves the longstanding problem of bicycle commute trip validation.

Representatives from the City of Minneapolis and Nice Ride Minnesota, the nonprofit organization that will administer the Bike Share program featuring 1,000 bikes at 75 kiosks across the city, will be on site to provide more information.