Back to the topic of this thread... The most important question a parent should ask is what is being done with my 6 hours of training a week for my kid? The matches last 70-80 minutes. A full roster means a kid plays 50 - 60 minutes. Maybe two matches in a weekend, means an hour or two of match play, with precious few touches on the ball. Training is 4x that with 10x the number of touches. If we are going to build better soccer, our top three clubs with DA will need to continue a track of improvement in the technical aspects of the game. There is no cut here, just a reminder, that we need technical training. Anyone who has watched the past Chicago Cups where Sockers brought in a big time club from Germany at U15 to play a round robin with 3 other clubs can see immediately the technical superiority of the German kids. They play as if the touch line doesn't exist. They bring the ball down cleanly out of the air. Their win the 50/50s because their touch is superb. That's where Magic/Sockers/Fire need to keep heading. I think they all know it, and in the end, if they can get the kids young enough, I think they will do a good job of development. This is a marathon, not a sprint. And BTW, all the championships in the world at the youth level for our various Illinois teams don't mean squat if we wake up like we are today and see three kids from Illinois on the entire USA national rosters from U14-U20. Winning is great for maybe attending college, a nice goal, but meaningless on the big stage. One thing I think we can all agree on is our pride in any player from Illinois who makes it onto the world stage, let's root for that!
How did the Magic/Sockers alliance do at the next level? Where do they play (League or Cup) and who coaches them? Dont know too much about this program but would like to know info
I dont understand this post arent the CFJ U13's in State Cup final and didnt the CFJ North U13 beat Magic in US Club State cup(not that means anything as winning does not count on this thread). I also understand that between the CFJ CFH N and CFJ S the 12's, 11's 10's are promising and CFJ has LS, MM, SA. TB all working with these age groups. 2 MLS assistants, U18 Nat coach, CFJ DOC and Acad U18 coach all working with younger groups
Dutch you make some good posts about development. In order for development to occur and players to progress dont we need qualified individuals coaching our youth players> Would you trust your childs education to a teacher that didnt have the training to handle your childs academic progress? One of the main problems we have here is a lack of qualified people teaching our players (teaching not coaching) in the younger years? Dalgish questioned one of my earlier posts abot pro players coaching youth players and I dont know why as my post highlighted the need for better qualified coaches not advocating former pro players coaching. In order for a pro player to be treated seriously they need to do the courses. Curriculum? What curriculum do clubs have for development of their players what is their curriculum? Which of our big 3 in illinois have qualified coaches and a curriculum? I came over from one of the 3 clubs to another and the one we are at now has a curriculum as my 12yr old is doing this yr what his 13yr old brother did last yr with added benefits as he is beyond his brother in development. At the club we also do 1 day of functional training with other midfield players from other teams and tactical training with club tactical director it is very refreshing.
Pray tell which of the Big3 is doing that! If true, it is great news indeed and should be commended. Can you provide a link about such curriculum where we can study and maybe I can move my U-little there as well?
He said he came over from one of the big 3... TipTop: I think you'll see a greater emphasis on curriculum coming forward this year and next. Let's see...
LS, MM and SA don't work with the younger age groups, but there are some talented players at those age groups. Well, I'm glad we agree on that. I would guess that it's Sockers.
Sockers FC Boys Program: U13 Cup - U14 Cup - U15 Cup to USYSA Regionals U16 Academy - U18 Academy to USDA Playoffs Sockers FC Girls Program: U14 and U16 girls to USYSA Regionals.
Not that winning means anything but look who won yesterday Fire vs Magic U 13 game in the US Club game
Ha ha, obviously it matters if you are pointing me to check it out. I suspected that the Fire had lost because I haven't had any calls from certain people. I guess they wanna call me only when they win. Anyway. Were you at the game? Do you know any details? The website doesn't even show the score...... I would like some details also on the Magic U12s, both at IL State Cup semis and US Club State Cup final.
Both teams are very good Magic won the first game 1-0 So then the play a 30 minute Blitz game Fire needed to win the game but it ended up 0-0 so the magic win Both teams have some very good players on . I was told and do not know how true it was that many of the Fire had played a game earlier in the morning. On a very hot afternoon that could and I assume 12 and 13 year olds will get run done. Both teams play the ball on the ground very well. Will be very interesting watching these two and a few other teams for the years to come
Well that's good to hear. At the end of the day, it's important to know that both sides tried to play good soccer. Too bad that the style of play becomes ugly once the boys start hitting puberty. I'm surprised that the Fire would allow their boys to play two games on the same day if that turns out to be true as you say.
Great post dutchmethod. congratulations on pointing these facts out. Its such a shame that most coaches and parents place emphasis on physical aspect in soccer. Its simple fact that the shorter players can control the ball better as they tend to be more co-ordinated, assuming they have basic soccer skills. Its one of the main reasons why US cannot produce quality players, as the emphasis is on size rather than technical skills, ball control, passing ability, vision etc. check out this stat (source : FIFA.com) Messi 170 cm Sergio AGUERO 170 cm Carlos Tevez 173 cm Robinho 175 cm Jesus NAVAS 172 cm Pedro 169 cm David Villa 175 cm Andres INIESTA 170 cm Xavi 170 cm Cesc FABREGAS 175 cm Philipp LAHM 170 cm Landon DONOVAN 173 cm all these players are around 5 ft 6in or 5 ft 7, its who's who of great soccer talent (obviously spanish/south americans for most part). Hopefully watching these talented players will open more eyes of the coaches to give players their due irrespective of size. It kills me to watch big kids make 1st teams just because of their size while smaller kids with superior skills are made to toil away in B teams in these supposed Big 3. what a shame! The most important thing is the technical ability, big players will fade out if they don't have skills over the years. The other aspect I see coaches don't encourage is for the kids to express themselves in skill, like a good player with dribbling skills shouted at if he moves the ball few yards. imagine Messi without his trademark runs at the defence trying to take on 3/4 defenders, what a drab it will be to watch! yes soccer is a team game, but players need to once in a while try to express theirs skills like a Ronaldo or Messi (provided they have skills). thats what makes this a beautiful game. Oh well.
In general I agree, but let's not dismiss the taller players either. Zidane is 6'1'', Cruyff and Beckenbauer are 5'11''. And when Johan and Franz were playing at their best 5'11'' was huge. Cristiano Ronaldo is also tall at 6'1''. So size doesn't help or prevent someone from being great player. Talent comes in all sizes. The question is what do you do to develop it.
It's all about developing players Despite everyone generally thinking soccer is great in Texas, for the size of population they have (MM) they produce precious few players who have made it to the national level. And you can win all you want but Illinois hasn't put as many players on the national rosters as SIGNIFICANTLY SMALER states such as VA; MD; MA. While New York and Michigan's numbers are skewed by the U14s, but other than that, the state distributions among age groups are pretty even. Plenty of sarcasm on this thread about it being "all about development." But when you have three prominent teams who consistently rank among the best boys teams in the USA top 20 (by Soccer America) one might guess a more heavily loaded national team presence. As stated earlier, IMHO, they are improving and trying to move in a good direction, which is good for all the boys and young men in their program. Someone thought there might be favoritism, but the USSF is geared towards winning on a world stage... it gets pretty even and fair. Figures taken 6-18-2010 from http://www.ussoccer.com/Teams/Youth.aspx Code: ST U14 U15 U17 U18 U20 TOT MM PER MD 7 1 1 1 3 13 5.7 2.28 CA 16 8 11 20 16 71 37.0 1.92 SC 4 2 1 1 0 8 4.6 1.74 VA 7 1 0 3 2 13 7.9 1.65 NJ 4 1 3 3 3 14 8.7 1.61 OR 6 0 0 0 0 6 3.8 1.58 MA 4 1 0 6 1 12 7.9 1.52 MI 11 1 2 1 0 15 10.0 1.50 ID 1 0 0 1 0 2 1.5 1.33 FL 7 1 4 7 4 23 18.5 1.24 CO 1 0 0 3 2 6 5.0 1.20 NV 0 2 1 0 0 3 2.6 1.15 GA 4 1 1 2 3 11 9.8 1.12 NY 10 3 0 6 2 21 19.5 1.08 WA 4 1 0 0 2 7 6.7 1.04 OH 2 1 2 3 4 12 11.5 1.04 RI 1 0 0 0 0 1 1.1 0.91 PA 2 1 2 3 3 11 12.6 0.87 [B][U]IL 5 2 1 2 1 11 12.9 0.85[/U][/B] TX 4 4 4 3 6 21 24.8 0.85 NC 5 0 0 1 1 7 9.4 0.74 WI 3 1 0 0 0 4 5.7 0.70 MS 0 0 2 0 0 2 3.0 0.67 IN 1 1 0 0 2 4 6.4 0.63
From what I've seen on TV, the players on U17 and U20 don't show anything that's better than what I see on the local scene.
I think at those age groups and that competition level there is significantly more pressure, so perhaps they don't show as well, but the match moves significantly quicker and 1st touch becomes amazingly more important.
Mmmm, I'm not sure that's true Dutch-y. There have been times when I've seen hints of some good, composed play at local matches, more so than at youth national level. Pressure? You know very well that there is plenty of pressure at local club level, especially in games like Magic vs Sockers vs Fire. And just so we are clear, I'm talking about individual performances and not so much overall team performances.
The first Regional championship of the weekend was handed out Saturday at the Chicago Regional as Chicago Magic HP claimed the U-11 boys' division. Leading the way are Chicago Magic SC and Eclipse SC, each with three first-place squads. Chicago Magic had great success on the boys' side on Friday, as teams from the club enter Saturday leading the U-11, U-12 and U-13 boys' divisions. 9:00 AM Game: 0027 Chicago Magic U13 Pre AcademyUnder 13 Boys Premier CFJ Pre AcademyLibertyville #08 7/5/20109:00 AM Game: 0037 Chicago Magic U14 Pre AcademyUnder 14 Boys Premier Raptors 95/96Libertyville #09 Monday 7/5/201011:00 AM Game: 0050 FC Magic 95 RedUnder 15 Boys Premier Chicago Magic U15 Pre AcademyLibertyville #09 12's are in the finals as well....15's beat Eclipse to make finals. Should be good games
Clean sweep for Magic boys from u-11 thru u-15 at US Club Chicago Regionals. Some redemption for disappointing showings in state cup.
Clean sweep for Magic boys in US Club Chicago regionals from u-11 thru u-15. Some redemption for disappointments in state cup, sometimes against same competition.
This is good news... I hope some of this success finds it's way into the girls programs in Frankfort as well as the North camp.
I was at starbucks today and saw Sole and Todd. I was listening to the conversation and basically Sole was telling Todd that it was an uphill battle to repeat without Todd's help and that's why they couldn't get it done. At the end of the day, it was a touching moment.