I'm a first time poster , but a long time reader of the site. I do post on a few other coaching forms so some may have seen my name out there before, but I needed to respond to Thomas Calhouns post. Wow, a state that specializing is bad. I mean if your soin wants to play soccer or any sport and have a good time and get a juice box after the game then tere are leagues for him, atleast in the area I'm from. But if he want sto paly a a high level and I'm not even talking about the Super Y, you better be prepared to sacrifice alot of other things and that may include other sports. On the teams I coach and have coached I encourage my players to have fun with other sports but they can not play on any other select team and soccer needs to come first over all other teams, if they don't want this then there are teams that offer fall and spring only soccer. But if you play on those teams you can expect that you will not make the High School team. Alot of parents are very upset by this but it's true for all sports, club baseball runs from May- the end of October with 2 to 3 pratices a week, club basketball is year round, hockey has formal functions from September-April and during the summer they have manditory camps and skate arounds where attendence is taken and recorded. Sports are not like they where 10 years ago or even 5 years ago, kids are forced to grow up aster in every aspect in life ealier than they have had to before. I mean compare the pros now to the pros 10 years ago, they don't compare. I know you can site a few exceptions, but they are the rare exception. But herre's a story for you I had a boy a few years back, he wanted to play soccer and hockey, I told his parents it wasn't a good idea, but they went to the DOC of my club he watched the boy work out and forced me to take him and make it work. So he missed a few practices, didn't play any indoor with the rest of the team, then in 2 years he ended up being cut by both the soccer and hockey teams, not becuase he wasn't a goos athlete, he was fast and strong but he had never developed with the other boys for either team, now he sits at home and does nothing. There comes a time when fighting the way things are just doesn't work, and I hate to tell you my friend it'll get worse before it gets better. I am a firm believer in playing on only 1 serios team and play other sports for fun.
The thing is that athletic specialization seems to be working, at least in world wide terms. Look at Owen, Beckham, Raul, Figo, Pauleta, Giggs, etc. Even from auto racing you have the Schumacher brothers(both started at around 19 in F1), and the biggest example of all---TIGER WOODS. Unfortunately or fortunately, everyone is starting to realize it and realize the potential lives that their kids could have--you are just going to see the youth game become more and more and more competitive.... That was 10 years ago....and look at Sanneh--he has gone from a guy who could cut it on athleticism alone at forward at the lower level to a guy who plays defense at the higher level. Look at how many college players who never dabbled in other sports who get moved out of the positions they've played their whole life just so they can make an MLS roster. The game is becoming so much more tactical and technical now, that only a few players are going to be able to dabble in other sports at the youth level and make it to the big time.
I coach young girls, aged 8-12. And what you say is where the problem lies in why kids are dropping out at the beginning of their teen years. We are pushing these kids to be great players. Not good players, but great ones. We're not teaching them to love the sport. We want them to be the best, and if they can't keep moving up then it is time to get out. Sure, I want to my kids to end up being super stars. But, guess what, very few make it there. And yet, coaches are only striving to develop the next super star. We need to teaching kids on the basis that they might not make it to the top. We need to develop them so that they still are playing at 13, 15, 20 and even 40. I'm in late 30's and know tons of old friends who used to play, some were good, who haven't touched a ball in years. And yet, these same guys will go out every weekend to play some basketball. Basically, these guys were put out from soccer because they weren't good enough at the next level. Maybe it was makes us better than we should be, but US soccer has too much organization.
How do you teach someone to love something? IMHO love is something that develops on it's own, and at it's own pace. You can't force anything down people's throats. Respectfully, I disagree. If you teach that to kids, then the one potential star you have might not have the foundation necessary to make it to the top. That might be the kid who scores the winning goal in the WC final, sets up the winning goal, or prevents another team from scoring....the point is that you don't know which one it is. Let's draw an analogy from education: just because a teacher has a classroom full of kids from poor backgrounds, does that mean that the teacher should teach from a chicken little perspective that these kids might not make it to be anything other than blue collar? One of those kids might find a cure for cancer, grow up to be a political figure, etc..... [/B][/QUOTE] We need to develop them so that they still are playing at 13, 15, 20 and even 40. I'm in late 30's and know tons of old friends who used to play, some were good, who haven't touched a ball in years. And yet, these same guys will go out every weekend to play some basketball. Basically, these guys were put out from soccer because they weren't good enough at the next level.[/B][/QUOTE] Rec leagues are alive and well, and there will be more clubs than ever if the game goes more mainstream...why do you think these guys play basketball? It's a popularity issue IMHO.... We need a fast track professional style system for the elite players---the other clubs will find other players. We talk about growing the game here--well, winning the WORLD CUP is going to grow the game here......after the women's WC win I got asked to coach at least 3 girls teams, and would have had the opportunity to coach more.
I guess I have to agree that the potential soccer stars - the ones who might score that winning goal in the WC - are the ones who eagerly select total soccer immersion or are "discovered" by good coaches who put them in a competitive envrionment and dazzle them with what their lives could be like if they stick exclusively to soccer. I still think there must be place for the gifted athlete who finally makes his decision to concentrate on soccer later in life; say 16 rather than 12. I have coached some very gifted players who had shunned the ODP route and turned out to be fully equal in ability at the high school level. Burnout must be avoided at all costs! Besides the risk of burnout, I think overspecialization, at least the way we tend to do it in the States, is dangerous because we are too organized. Here in MD, too many kids are playing on regulation fields, with referees and earnest but soccer-ignorant parent coaches, whereas they could learn better individual skills by playing among themselves on a small patch of grass.
Well, this is another animal altogether---ODP--what the hell is that? Going to train once a month with a select team? That ignores the obvious fact that most player development occurs with the team that the kid participates with MOST of the time. Regarding youth soccer, I couldn't agree more--teach them basics and then turn them loose to let them learn on their own. Self discovery and improvisation has a huge place within soccer IMHO. The problem in many places is that these kids can't get together with their neighborhood buddies and play pick-up soccer because their teammate lives on the other side of the city.
OK. I don't think our goals have to be competing with each other. I, too, want this country to domiante soccer like no other country. But, I also want players who grow up playing soccer to keep playing soccer. And right now, as the title of this whole thread shows, isn't happening. Kids are dropping out of soccer when they hit their teens. The first part is the love of the game part. It is when the kids hit the teens that everybody seems to get a little too serious about the sport. Nothing wrong that for a lot of people. But, you're going to leave players behind. While you say the rec leagues are doing well, I think they aren't doing as well as they should. Do you know that many states have just as many teenage travel players as teenage rec players? That seems convulted to me. Kids who don't make it are dropping out. And, there is a problem with that, I think it is great that if you have the desire, there are leagues ready to suit your needs. We all seemed to geared to developing a super national team instead of a country full of soccer players. Now, the classroom story. I happen to be a teacher. As a teacher, I can tell you I spend 90% of my time with 10% of the kids who are struggling. This is unfortunate, and yes, I could make rocket scientists out the good ones, but the time just isn't there. My goal is to make the whole class good at the subject. Hopefully, some will rise above that. But, if I'd reversed the way things are done and spend 90% of my time with the top 10% then I would probably be a failure to 30% of the kids. And this is what is happening in soccer now. I see young kids that being pushed up to higher levels far too early. I say let the really good kids play at a lower level longer so she work on developing some leaderships skills. Egos are crushed too easily at this age level.
That, I think, is what far too many coaches fail to address. Maybe things will change when I start coaching older kids, but my biggest measuring stick now is how many kids came back to play again.
Well, you can't take kids out of their zone of proximal development too soon, no matter what we're talking about. While I agree with your school analogy whole heartedly, we don't have a real system for the top 10%. We have club, ODP, and U17 residency academy for 20-30 kids. That's not a true system, it's a stop gap. Egos are crushed for a couple of reasons IMHO: 1) Small talent pool for soccer. Basically what you have now coming up through a club system where a lot of kids have really close ability in the technical(ball skill) sense. The kids that are fast are the ones that stand out(and rightly so), but there aren't enough of them around in numbers to cause true competition for places that is found naturally in American football and basketball. Many of these guys could probably not make it in other sports. If everything comes easy to you in this life and then all of a sudden you are whacked back down to size with failure, yeah it's going to be a blow to your ego. It's part of the maturation process for many of us..... Learning leadership skills is great---but at the point where a kid is reaching the outer levels of his zpd, not only should he be moved up to a higher level, he must be moved up or risk not fulfilling his true potential. To give you an example of this, Borussia Dortmund realized early on(or someone advised them)that Conor Casey scoring hat tricks in the German 4th division wasn't going to allow him to develop quickly enough to be of use to them. So they moved him up a couple of levels(2nd division), and he went on a rampage last year while Hannover were surging towards promotion. I realize this is at the professional level, but I think the lesson is important at the club level also. I think we agree on things, just that you're seeing too much competition, and I'm not seeing enough.
General Grant or someone else on this thread did make the VERY good point that ALL sports lose tons of participants starting at right around this age. Why? This is the age that lots of scouting begins for football and basketball junior high programs...
Well I'm 16 now, and I still luv and play soccer for the Corinth Warrior High School team. It's the best thing about my school!
Maybe the kids, after playing a sport for 7/8 years is burnred out because of the "pressure" whether real or not. I coach a U-12 premiere team, one of the best in the state but we still allow our kids to play other sports. Kids find other things to do as they get older and their options increase ten fold. I goal is to teach the skills, positioning, tactics and as corny as it sounds have fun. If they don't have fun, they WILL stop playing regardless how good a player they are. We as a soccer community must not drive out the kid who may be a late bloomer which happens too often. I've seen it happen first hand and if the kid doesn't truly love the game he is gone for good. Truthfully how many of the kids will develop into "worl class" players. We must teach the kids to love the game to expand the pool to capture those atheletes who may choose soccer over other sports because it is fun.
That's a school of thought. Works for some kids. On the other hand, my kid has twice been the dominant player on his team, and he hated it both times. (Dominant as in, could beat the next 2 guys in a 1 vs. 2 game.) Wanted to quit type of hatred. On the other hand, when was moved to a situation, when he had some equal or better teammates, he quickly became very enthusiastic about the game. So as a prescription, letting them whup 'on the weaklings at the lower level, has its drawbacks.
My take on why kids abandon soccer at age 13 is this: it isn't necessarily because they'd rather be playing football or basketball. Many kids (but certainly not all) lose interest in sports in general when they get to be that age because they've discovered the opposite sex. Kind of hard to think about scoring goals when that cute girl from math class is making a boy's hormones run wild! Many boys stay with the sport as a means of attracting girls. But also keep in mind that many boys stop playing organized baseball at around that age. This is an age when people start to find out who they really are and what they were meant to do in life. Lots of changes take place around this age. People find new friends whose values and attitudes are the same as theirs when they are 13 and 14. Unfortunately, many quit playing soccer because they want to hang out with their friends at the mall. Not all have a true temperment for athletics. Some do. Some of those who do stay with the game, and some might find that they indeed are better at another sport and have a better affinity for it too. Hopefully, we'll keep churning out more Mia Hamms, Clint Mathises, Brian McBrides, etc.
Re: Re: 75% of US youth soccer players abandon the game at age 13 Super competitive kids who are little warriors need to be moved up IMHO.....the more timid, self-conscious types need to know what it feels like to be 'the man' for awhile.
Re: Re: Re: 75% of US youth soccer players abandon the game at age 13 Here is a question: Does a player who is "super competitive" be moved up for the sake of moving up? My belief is he should play up IF the coaching is superior to what he would receive playing his normal age group. You don't want to move a child up if he isn't going to play the majority of minutes, therefore never growing (learning) as a player.
The "Playing Up" Question In the club I currently coach for we have so many players wanting to play up we have deceided to field an entire team of under aged players for 1 year and then move the team down to it's own age group. At first I was very skeptical about this idea but I went and watched most of them play with thier "rec" teams and saw that they where far above thier peers in skill and where developing some really bad habits, so I agreed to coach the team. I have been working with them as a put together team for indoor and currentlythink that they are better than the U13 team I have had for 3 years and the little guys can't get enough soccer. After the games they all run to me asking me what they could do better, what can I practice at home to make the team better , are there any good games on TV this week? This is from the 7-8 year olds not the parents, I know I will lose 1 or 2 every year to other sports/activites but how can you not push this group.
Re: Re: Re: Re: 75% of US youth soccer players abandon the game at age 13 Your belief is that they should move up if the coaching is superior and if they play a lot. Moving up without actually seeing a fair amount of time is only beneficial in terms of training time IMHO. And we all know how limited that is at the youth level here in the U.S.... A dominant player at the U12 level should be able to at least hold his own at the next level. If said player stays too long at the U12 level, overconfidence and stagnation can set in.... Like many of us have said, winning at the youth level is not always conducive to good development or even proper preparation to play at the next level. And I see that as a very big problem with the youth game...
Pushing Up Kids Every kid is different. Some kids thrive on the challenge. They like milestones. They quit the sport if you hold them back. They'll find something else that challenges them more. Other kids would rather be "the man" and get distressed if you move them past their comfort zone. If you were to design a youth development program, you'd recognize this and adapt to the kids accordingly. What we have in the U.S., however, is primarily a team development program, not an individual development program. First priority is not to develop the kid or that kid, it's to have a strong team. So you won't find very much promotion activity, as each coach attempts to hold onto the very best players. Which means that kids eventually quit their coach's team and find better teams. These kids are called "club hoppers." Sometimes, they are. More often, they're just doing what they must do with a system that places the team's development over the individual's development.
MLS lack of business mentality.... MLS have not exploit the fact that TOP YOUNG PLAYERS are being hire at stunding ages on a sport league the case of FREDDY ADU, QUARANTAS...and many others ...MLS is being shy and DUMB I am not totally sure about this but DIEGO ARMANDO MARADONA WAS PLAYING PRO at