By John Thomas, the Assistant Technical Director for US Youth Soccer.
The below article can be found on the US Youth Soccer Blog. Click Here.
I just completed a National Youth License course in Sandy, Utah in August and had a discussion with one of the candidates who passed the course. I wanted to know her thoughts and any insight she might want to share. Here is what coach Sherri Dever, director of coaching for Infinity Soccer Club in Utah, had to say."JT, you asked for me to share some thoughts after participating in the National Youth License course held in Sandy, Utah, in August. After attending other U.S. Soccer licensing courses, I found this course to be similar in format, class work, field sessions, testing and instructors. I think the format was good in its progression, starting with younger age groups (U-6 to U-8) and progressing to older ages (up to U-12). I found the characteristics of each age group helpful, especially when we were actually on the field with the players and had hands-on experience with each of the different age groups. It was good to have to dig deep and let yourself think on a child's level, participate with the players and have some fun.
The age appropriate exercises were really accurate, and I can attest to this with a personal experience. During the final testing I had a session assignment for 10 to 12-year-olds. Because children that age did not show up to participate in testing I was left with 7 to 8-year-old children to try to run my topic with. These younger kids really struggled with the exercises. Had this not been a test, with an outlined session already written out on paper to turn in to my instructor, I would have adjusted it to fit their needs, as this is what I do every day at training. It is important that we are able to adapt to fit the needs of the players involved. Hopefully, this didn't cause me to fail my testing topic, as the instructor did mention that it didn't seem to flow well. I was frustrated that I was put into this situation as the exercises were too complex for the age group. This was a good example to me that we need to do age appropriate exercises with our players. I enjoyed the field sessions and games that were presented. It is always good to get new training ideas and always be a student of the game, at any license level."
Dever really helped out a lot at the course by videotaping the goalkeeper session Greg Maas, technical director for Utah, put on, as well as the daily candidate's sessions with the players.
Dever really seemed to enjoy watching our guest coach Masao Naykayama, from Japan's Youth National Staff, who attended the course to observe our teaching methods and run a U-12 possession section. I also enjoyed the session. It really reinforced the coaching style and methodology we use when training and developing our youth players. Dever is correct when she stated that there are many coaches who ignore goalkeeper training. Coaches can overlook the goalkeeper because of a lack of knowledge on what to do to train them, or more frequently because there are 10-14 other players that take up the focus during training time. Maas ran the goalkeeper session. Maas' style gave all watching many ideas on incorporating the whole team and simple activities that could be done by an individual or in pairs. Thanks for the comments Sherri, and I look forward to seeing you and the other coaches from your class on the field.
For more information on the National Youth License click here.
