My hat is off to you. You have more guts than I did. When I told another coach of my planned remarks before my first parents meeting as a new coach of U10G, he told me I was nuts and was going to see a revoult. So I paid lip service to winning and hid my actual priorities. I didn't get tarred and feathered at the meeting. The kids had fun, learned to play and won most of their matches so everyone was satisfied in the end.
When I first started to coach youth soccer. I took over an 8/9 year old team from a coach who had terminal cancer. I was asking him various question. Then I asked him how much time does he usually give subs in games. He told me 5 minutes. I was very surprised by how little game playing time he gave his substitutes in games. I then started not to listen to anything he advised me to do. He was a complete bozo.
I think what saabrian is referring to is not so much the way the game overall has changed over the last 20 years, because as you stated, there haven't been any dramatic changes in that time, but that how it is played here in the US, especially at the youth levels. Soccer in the US has eveolved more in the last 20 years than it ever has. Youth coaches are now former players more often than not. Clubs are investing in training of the coaches and are developing more organized methods. The players themselves have evolved in both soccer IQ and physical aspects. A lot of that has to do with the increased exposure the game has recieved since the early to mid 90's. While the rest of the world evolved as a whole throughout the years the US was sort of a soccer backwater, especially outside the traditional soccer hotbeds, i.e California, Saint Louis, Jersey/Long island. That has changed. The parents of todays players remember when they played, if they played, and things were not always done like they are today. I can't tell you how often a parent has made a comment about a certain style or tactic I have used and why I don't do it the way "we played in my day." Most of these Moms and Dads don't watch any soccer besides the games their kids play. They are clueless most of the time.
Training and playing are two different things. Best practices for training haven't changed either. Today's best practices can be traced directly back to Holland in the 1970's. The fact that most youth coaches put too much emphasis on match results and don't spend enough time teaching fundamentals hasn't changed either, except that there has been increased emphasis on U-Little match results and developing teams over the last 20 years. Now if you want to say that over the last five years there are improvements in the youth coach pool's qualifications and experience, I won't argue against it. I find it difficult to believe, but the shortage of qualified youth coaches could hardly get worse.
I don't want to be argumentative but you keep comparing things to the world view. You are right. The way things are done are the way things have been done for years, in the rest of the world. We are talking here, in the US, in local clubs and High Schools, which encompass the local parents entire soccer experience. You can't compare Small Town USA U-Whatever today with there counterparts in Holand in the 70's. We're talking different worlds here. Think back 20-30 years ago to how we used to do things here in the states. Now compare to those world teams and their methods. They are not the same. We had coaches who learned everything they knew of the game from books, if they even bothered to do that. We had players who probably had never seen a real soccer match before, even on tv. The national team was a non-entity for the most part. Naivety about almost everything soccer was the standard. Fast forward to today. We have kids who had parents who played. Coaches who played or who have been doing it so long that they have developed along with the game. We can see a game almost anytime we want by turning on the tv. Kids still play in record numbers but now they know what the game looks and feels like. We have a national team that can usually at least compete with anyone in the world. We have a thriving domestic league. All this plays into the evolution of the game here in the US. There have been a lot of changes. It's in perception, acceptance, and most of all execution. I'm not sure how someone could think otherwise. I think it undeniable that we have grown as a soccer nation and that requires a great bit of change. A lot of catching up. To imply that hasn't happened is to deny that we were ever really behind the rest of the world to begin with, which, while a nice thought, is nowhere near the truth.
I found out today that my u12s just got a new manager. The kid is fine and works hard, but his mom is one of those annoying types. She got mad at me one game and stormed off when her son didn't get to play as much as she thought he should. Why didn't he get to play? I tried to sub him in and he wasn't paying attention so I called another kid over. I have a lot of outside mids so they all know to run hard and then I'll sub them out on a regular basis to keep them all fresh. He just missed his rotation while picking flowers.
The biggest difference that I have noticed is the players now have better upper bodies then they had years ago. The quads, gluts , and Hamstrings are more evenly developed now then they were years ago. So you have less chance of injury now. As a whole the player is faster now then it was years ago. So the body type of the pro player is much better now. On has the game changed it has changed, but not always for the better
Our experiences are different. I was commenting on my experiences here in the US in four states where I have resided. The best youth coach I ever saw (one of my kids U8 teams if I remember correctly) was in a small rural village in the middle of nowhere. This was 1983. She was a parent without a coaching license, but knew how to teach children and was a former college player. Were there also parents coaching without a clue? Yes. But books were available in the public libraries including AYSO and USSF manuals written for parent coaches as well as a selection of books from England, Holland, and Brazil. The ideas coming out of Holland are the best practices today and were the basis for the AYSO and USSF materials then. NSCAA has featured the practices in Holland for as long as I have been aware of them. I don't consider clueless parent volunteers to be the problem. I see a lack of qualified coaches to be the problem which forces clueless parents to step forward and volunteer.
In a perfect world, it would not have to be like this, but I agree. I am management. I am paid to make decisions, and I am not paid to justify those decisions to anyone but my players and fellow coaches.
In 1983? Rare as hen's teeth--especially a female. There are far, far more college soccer programs (and high-level youth programs) now as compared to then. In 1983, I was stuck being coached by that proverbial parent who hadn't a clue about soccer. Wouldn't you agree that there are far, far more qualified coaches today than back then, and far, far more parents who have a soccer background? Of course we could use more, but the ranks of parents who are former college players, former high-level youth players, is way larger and growing all the time.
Agreed. I would bet this is much more likely now than it was then. I am not saying that the right things weren't happening before, 20 years ago. I'm saying that they happen far more often now and because of that the game has changed. Anyway, kind of helped hijack my own thread here. To get it back on track... Had a young player a few years ago that was more of a distraction than anything (U-8 level). Always doing anything but what we were trying to do. Talked to a parent at the end of training one day about this maybe not being the place for his son as this was an academy environment where the players are trying to learn and become better and that while I liked his kid (true, he was a nice kid) I was having to spend an inordinate amount of time keeping him under control or keeping him out of the way. Dad pretty much admitted that he and his wife were using our program as a babysitting service so they could have an hour to themselves a couple nights a week.
More, yes I agree--but I don't think the increase is as significant as you imply. This is very much dependent on culture. In certain geographic areas and certain ethnic communities soccer had (and still has) strong community support as a participation sport. The village I referred to above was in an area where soccer was strong. Contrary to what someone else said, there were regular TV broadcasts of professional matches (on PBS if I recall correctly from 30 years ago). Most soccer is not played by USSF santioned teams and leagues. In these communities and geographic areas there were family, friends and neighors who played and could coach. It is when we had the youth soccer explosion which took youth soccer into new communities that we had the worst shortages of coaches. In those relatively "new" soccer communities the increase is significant. If you want to define "qualified" as licensed, then we do have a large increase in licensed/qualified coaches. But still we have nationally 20 million children playing soccer. The number of licensed coaches is a drop in a bucket of need. I do not equate licensed with qualified. I do consider licensed as better than unlicensed, but there are a large number of youth coaches that teach players to be in a physical location on the field instead of teaching the principles of play. I don't know if it is due to poor coaching methods or poor understanding of the game--or both. I do believe I know where the problem lies (management at the club and league level) and what the problem is (change focus from match results to player development and fundamentals, especially at U14 and below).
Not necessarily, I agree with you there. But at least in my area there are far, far more parents who grew up with the game now than knew the game when I was growing up. That puts most parent coaches ahead of the game already, compared to back then. It seems like the difference in our perspectives is way different because of the area we grew up in. In 1979/80 I was on one of the very first competitive travel teams in my city. There was a small handful of soccer people who started the club; no one else knew squat about soccer. Now, the guys I played with growing up have kids of their own and are coaching them, so we have a first generation of parent coaches who actually played and understand the game (licensed or not). It sounds like in your neck of the woods, the soccer culture goes back farther. As you pointed out in Rob55's thread, it's about culture. Develop that, and you'll get more people, parent coaches included, who know the game and can teach it.
I was asked by a parent why I was always practicing using small areas and only 2v2 3v3 etc and that in no way did it relate to their 8v8 game on a Sunday. I tended to agree with her it didn't. The players at practice had some chance of seeing their options at 2v1 2v2 3v2 3v3 4v4 etc and at 8v8 the chances of a 7 or 8 year old understanding where and what to do and when to do it was practically nil. However the only way(or at least most practical) for them to understand the game is to help them through small sided games and I then told her that the principles are still the same and that if they can see their options in ssg's they will eventually take them into an 8v8 game. The big issue I see here and on other websites is that coaches who are struggling with trying to teach the game to 8 year olds and younger have to do so in unfavourable conditions of the wrong fromats. That is 8v8 at U8. For me I am trying t set up a new program and I do not want to be affiliate with any socer organisation because they are all under that format. Is there anywhere where like minded coaches can come together and from some sort of alternative program where my 8 year old can play 4v4 . Where my 5 and 6 year old neighbor can play 3v3. All I do is make a few calls and tell parents I will be down at the local field and I will set up a play date for the kids. I facilitate I don't coach and my little guys are having a blast and are all with their parents jumping in and out of the game. Then on Sunday I go to my job and I listen to very similar parents as the ones I live next door to screaming and roaring at their own children. Surely we as coaches have an obligation to change the format that even Claudio Reyna is advocating.
Some of this is bueacratic politicing. For U14 and below futsal is a great way to go, but futsal is administered by the US Futsal Association. http://www.futsal.com/ So USYSA is not about to tell members to play "futsal." So instead they push small-sided "soccer" games for development. Most soccer (like 80%) played in the US is not USSF affiliated. The catch is that most tournaments are for USSF affiliated teams and compatable with that state's USYSA state's organizations requirements for team sizes. So if you want to play tournaments.... That is the trap. In the long term view the greatest need for professional coaching is at 8 to 12 when kids are learning fundamentals. But kids don't usually have professional coaches, and those few that do, not until U14 at the earliest.
I'm of the same era (first league in our small area started by a Hungarian immigrant in 1979) and I think a big shift will be from the next generation. We learned the game as our parents (coaches) did. There were small pockets of exposure to soccer via TV, but it's not likely most of us saw it. The high school team I played on in 1984 was the first year of a varsity soccer team in schools in our region, although there had been teams in the state in more populated areas. Our coach was a math teacher who only knew anything about soccer via books in the school library. We were fortunate to have a junior goalkeeper who moved here from New England and had played most of his life. He was our real coach and accelerated our learning of the game because he was on the field with us. We went to state two of the four years of our existence because of him and the desire of the players. Now we're coaching kids and while some of us have studied the game more, many still carry those old ways with them. As the next generation gets more of a taste of good coaching plus learning about the game from the Web, games like FIFA 13 and Football Manager, and soccer on TV anytime they like, they will be the ones to hopefully really change the culture and teach based on that.
I agree with you regarding ages for sure. Can you explain more about 80% of soccer is not USSF affiliated. I'm in Jersey and Northern counties morris countiess soccer league. Any town close to mine are all affiliated with that type of format at the development age
The level of play in the US now is WAY better than when I was a kid. I watch my nephews play a much more skillful, ball controlling game than we could have imagined in the 70s. Back to the thread topic... Agree that many parents have seen few soccer games other than their kids'. I often used comparisons to basketball and baseball to explain my methods to parents. For example, "Why do you tell the kids not to boot the ball down the field?" "Well, we're trying to control the ball like in basketball. When you watch an NBA game, how often do they heave the ball down the court as far as they can and hope somebody can run to it?" I had pretty good luck with parents. Best parent story was in the beginning of the season, one parent complained that I wasn't doing things like the previous coach. A few months later she was standing next to me at a game and said, "Wow, they've really impoved! They look really good!" Worst time to deal with parents was over team pictures. Geez what a mess - pictures late, orders wrong. And I had absolutely no control over it. And I really didn't care.
I make it clear at the beginning of the year that this kind of stuff is not my thing. Team pictures, meals, end of year parties, things like that. I tell them that those things, if they are going to happen, will need to be organized by someone else. I am a coach not an event planner. Usually not an issue. Been to some really great team dinners, always organized by the mom's and dad's.
I talked with a parent one time whose thing was baseball and he was having a hard time understanding why we let kids in soccer move out of their positions when the opportunity was there to attack, cover, etc. I asked him what a second baseman does on a grounder to short with a runner on first: Him: "He runs over to cover second to get the out." Me: "So you're saying he doesn't stay in the position he starts at, right? What does the pitcher do on a ball hit that pulls the first baseman away from the bag?" Him: "He runs over to cover first base to get the out." Me: "But he's off the mound where a pitcher is supposed to be, right?" Him: "I see what you mean now..."
The figure comes from comparing USYSA registrations and FIFA figures which in the US are related to the census. Where do you find them? Playing everything from pick up games to Hispanic leagues and other ethnic leagues to playing in scholastic leagues to playing for an unaffiliated club to playing for an affiliated club that only registers their travel team players to playing for a church league to playing in a city rec program. I have played soccer for all my life (over 50 years) and never played on a USSF affiliated team or in a USSF sanctioned match. (I have reffed affiliated matches--how odd is that!)
That's another big difference in our experiences--I've played for 40 years and rarely played (outdoors) in an unaffiliated match! Many of our clubs, including their rec programs, are USSF affiliated. It's also a reason why it's so hard in the USA at the National Team level. The geographic area is so large, the population and soccer culture so varied, that it's hard to implement any kind of over-arching program that will be relevant everywhere.
Although we're getting much better as stated, one of the biggest challenges in dealing with the parents in US that don't have much understanding of soccer is trying to focus on development for future years vs. the normal philosophy of athetic competion which is to "you play the game to win the game" mentality. Parents and grandparents will come out to watch their children play on a Saturday and they want to see their child's team succeed and their child play well during the game. Our develop for the future concept of soccer will put little Johnny or Sally in situations and positions where they may not be as successful in a game as if they were playing in their best spot on the field and filling the team niche where they do the best (or least damage) for their team to win the game. For recreational soccer in US (which I'm guessing is more populous overall than expensive club soccer), its very hard to educate and convince parents on the greater good of making the players well rounded and development, when many parents just sign their kids up to play soccer for fun, and want to see success just in the here and now of this 1 season or few seasons they'll play as a child. Most don't have grandeous expectations of their child to make it to a top college or pros and should be on any sort of long term model of development. They want to see goals scored and victories today...big booming kicks always get applause as we know, and great saves and stops by a goalie and defenders. Possession game by 10 year olds most always will be a less successful approach to win a game than just having a big legged defender boot it up to your top athletic 10 year old on team to score each time. Then when you go 5-5 under the development model and the other U10 coach goes 8-0 with boot and chase soccer, the parents will think the other coach must be doing something much better. Its hard to get non-soccer parents to understand that. Club soccer is much easier to sell the development approach vs. play to win today approach because usually those parents are paying big bucks to try and have the club mold their child into a great soccer player for the future to win that D1 scholarship etc.