Stifling The Development Of The American Soccer Player

[gosh1976]

I thought this was an interesting read and would like to see any comments any of you guys have about it.

The article mentions things like the National Youth license, street soccer, and developing more creative players.

I'm interested in knowing if anyone here holds the national youth license and hearing about it and also interested in hearing any thoughts on the other points made in the article.

[DoctorD]

Link doesn't work.

[gosh1976]

Link doesn't work.

the .pdf got cut off the end try this http://www.usyouthsoccer.org/doc_lib/Stifling_The_Development_Of_The_American_Soccer_Player.pdf

[equus]

I think one reason why this occurs is that starting out in the early youth, it's parents who are the first coaches, and many of them don't watch soccer, never played soccer, and don't bother to take the training that is offered to them by the associations.

They were brought up in a U.S. sports culture that consists of the Big Three: baseball, American football, and basketball. All three are sports where the coach is the star during a game. Something not working out right during a game? Take a time out and talk it over. Tell your players where to go and what to do. Or wait until a "break in the action" and discuss things.

Soccer's different. It is a continuously changing game with no timeouts. What worked two minutes ago may not work now. Players must adjust and see the game change on their own. A coach instructing from the sidelines helps sometimes, but then the kids get too dependent on the coach instead of making their own decisions on the fly.

Plus, soccer is one of many sports American youths play. In the stronger soccer countries, it's either the only thing they play or something they play a lot. Brazilian youth play it in the streets, on the beach, in school, in a club, everywhere. Many here play it in the fall only (if they play at all), or if we're lucky, both fall and spring. They play other sports as well.

I only coach U5 and U6, but I have the state youth license for U6-U10, and I have found that the less I talk, the more they learn. As five-year-olds, many of them are already running ahead of the attackers to get into defensive position, keeping the ball in-bounds, and talking to each other on the field, telling their teammates to turn the ball if they're going the wrong direction. Other than teaching them to keep the ball in-bounds during training, the other things I mentioned have developed naturally as a byproduct of them playing on their own with little interference from me.

[rca2]

He is spot on except for the point that we have not produced any world class players. We haven't produced any world class players except goal keepers. And what he is talking about is field players.

About the football, basketball and baseball comment, basketball requires creative players like soccer. Football requires the opposite of soccer: players who, when told, do exactly as told in an exact manner at the same time, everytime. Baseball does not have any really creative aspect to it either.

Part of the problem is our culture. Despite common beliefs otherwise, we do not as a society honor creative people. We stress conformance in our schools and in our work places. Our society craves predictability. Creativity is a threat because it may lead to change which is usually perceived as a threat. Is it any wonder that football is so popular here with a know-it-all leader controlling what everybody does. Compare that to the classroom and to the workplace. Its our basic institutional model. You don't really get past the "teacher knows everything" stage until college.

It comes right down to the coaches role in soccer. Is the coach a know-it-all who has "the" right answer for every decision? Or is the coach a mentor for the players helping them become better players? Maybe this is a better way to put it. Do we help them become better players or do we teach them what to do in every situation?

One effective thing we could do to encourage player development is to strictly enforce the Laws of the Game. If you saw the first half of the last Chivas/DC United match and compare that to the typical MLS thugfest you will see how much the game improves without all the fouling. DC United is the same team in both situations. Enforcing the LOTG allow creative, skilled players to do their thing. Fred was having a field day being able to dribble more than two steps without getting knocked down. This thug type playing is unfortuneately widespread worldwide.

[Twenty26Six]

I thought this was an interesting read and would like to see any comments any of you guys have about it.

The article mentions things like the National Youth license, street soccer, and developing more creative players.

I'm interested in knowing if anyone here holds the national youth license and hearing about it and also interested in hearing any thoughts on the other points made in the article.

I took the National Youth License this past August. If you want to ask any specific questions, go ahead.

[goyoureddevils]

Twenty26Six

I am taking it in November and December down in Evansville Indiana... what can I expect and what do I need to do to score well and earn the certificate?

As many of you know, I am the director for one of these abominable "Academies". The truth is though, I am a stone cold nazi to parents and coaches alike who push their kids and teams to focus on winning. I have gladly refunded money and shown them out the door if they don't want to buy into it.

Like many academies though, we focus on technical development Unlike many I approach it with the goal of teaching these kids (4 thru 9 year olds split into U6, U8, and U10 divisions) not just the "how" of the skills, but also the "why" and the "where". I ask the kids questions all the time, sometimes just before we begin an exercise, and make them wait until after they complete it before I let them answer. In my experience, if kids just know what the questions are, they can often figure out the answer by themselves.

I also strive to train them on a given skill on the area of the field where they are likely to use it. I have kids of all levels, but we are seeing them improve in leaps and bounds... some are learning the nuts and bolts of "how" to do a technique, while others are mastering the "why" and the "where" and turning these techniques into skills.

Finally, between each exercise or lesson, the kids play. The games are always 1v1 or 2v2, and have no boundries. The only time my staff or the team coaches are allowed to get on them is when they aren't trying out new techniques or being creative because they are scared to make a mistake or lose. We will be instituting one saturday a month this winter and next spring where the kids come out to play 3v3 pick up games for an hour or two in the mornings.

I learned the game on the crappy old soccer field at my local elementary school, playing games of 20 v 20 against kids from my neighborhood and two others within walking/biking distance. Those games lasted 4 or 5 hours, and no one ever kept score of anything except who scored the most spectacular goal or pulled off the most insane trick.... I can not recreate that environment for every kid, but I am willing to try just about anyting to come close.

[Twenty26Six]

Twenty26Six

I am taking it in November and December down in Evansville Indiana... what can I expect and what do I need to do to score well and earn the certificate?

Go in with an open mind and listen to what they have to say. That's all. You have to do some work and it can be hard to see yourself being analyzed on tape, but it's very relaxed.

The instructors I had were tops and very helpful.

[DUTCHVIZ]

goyou... I'd recommend that you get Ron Quinns book before you go. It's the course in paperback, http://www.amazon.com/Great-Soccer-Drills-Baffled-Parents/dp/007138488X/ref=sr_1_3/102-3143643-1960957?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1187746145&sr=1-3
Good luck.

[GKbenji]

I have my NYL and will testify that it is one of the best coaching courses I've ever taken. It gets away from the "methodology" tests of the A, B, C, D "letter" licenses and cuts to the heart of how kids learn, and how kids learn differently at different ages. If you teach U-littles, you might just completely rethink how you structure a practice. It has also affected how I teach HS-age players as well.

I had the course from Tom Goodman, who said that the only way you would fail is if you didn't show up, or you hated kids. :)

That said, I was in the class with several high-powered DOC's and upper-level coaches... who were scared to death of U6's! They had no idea what to do at that level. The NYL is a great course for leaning that.

[Twenty26Six]

I have my NYL and will testify that it is one of the best coaching courses I've ever taken. It gets away from the "methodology" tests of the A, B, C, D "letter" licenses and cuts to the heart of how kids learn, and how kids learn differently at different ages. If you teach U-littles, you might just completely rethink how you structure a practice. It has also affected how I teach HS-age players as well.

I had the course from Tom Goodman, who said that the only way you would fail is if you didn't show up, or you hated kids. :)

That said, I was in the class with several high-powered DOC's and upper-level coaches... who were scared to death of U6's! They had no idea what to do at that level. The NYL is a great course for leaning that.

I'll vouch for all of that. Mine was very much the same way. It really made me rethink how to coach.

Tom Goodman, from what I hear, is great. I still love his book "Soccer Coaching Made Easy". I had my NYL with Ron Quinn and The Asst. DOC of US Youth Soccer, John Thomas.

[KevTheGooner]

Good stuff. Good to get a reminder that street footy, or elements of it, need to be available to the kids throughout the season(s). Think I'll just run a wide-open scrimmage on Tuesday. :)

[goyoureddevils]

I honestly can't tell you how important those days playing in the streets and on the school playground were to the development of players in my neighborhood. We had a total of 12 college scholarship players, and 2 professional players come out of that group of kids! This was the ghetto folks, not some white suburbia utopia either.

The kids were a blue collar mix of white, black, asian, and hispanic, and we played while gunshots were going off in the hoods around us. We actually had a high school game interupted by a shootout at the corner liquor store between two armed robbers and the owner! Everyone just dropped to the ground, watched the shootout till the robbers drove off, then got back up and continued playing with a drop ball.

As wild and dangerous as it may have been though, soccer was our emotional and physical escape. I remember once when we talked one of the local gang members (A CPT if I remember right whose name was Lamar) into playing some pick up with us instead of selling drugs. He got so hooked on the game he played day after day with us. He then decided to play high school ball with us the following season and actually got a repreive from his fellow "bangers" to play sports instead of sell. He went on to play college ball and now lives a normal family life with a good job, a wife, and kids.

I know it all sounds cliche, but to be honest, it was just what we did... how things shook out for all us was different for each individual, but definately those all day games of soccer had a huge impact on us.