Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
As the Soccer Improves, So Must the Club
Our players are improving with every touch. We have embraced the Player Development Revolution, now it is time to set benchmarks.In soccer communities around the country, there is a lingering question, “how to measure success?” There are theories and philosophies and studies, but the reality is that we won’t truly know until a child reaches their teens. However, I believe that there can be benchmarks or goals to achieve that will better the chances of an individual’s reaching their potential to play at their highest level.
Recently, in a coaching committee meeting I unveiled the next step to improving the club. The concept puts a measuring and benchmarking system in use. The intentions is to help coaches, parents and players better evaluate their current level of play and set goals that help them reach their potential.
One of the most recent tools that we have added is iSoccer. This program does a number of wonderful things if fully taken advantage of by a player. However, the part that I want to focus on is the ability to quantifiably test and measure an individual in 16 core areas, these areas reflect the very foundation of every successful soccer player. The emphasis on “raising the level” of each player through training and testing is simply amazing, as it will transform a player from being decent to good, good to great, and excellent to elite. This is how we have decided to measure our players’ individual development. We believe strongly that if players train at home, are frequently tested and can see themselves reach their individual goals on iSoccer, it will allow the coach to focus on training the “thinking” part of the game and fine tune team style of play and tactics. -More on iSoccer in an interview with iSoccer CEO, Scott Leben-
Players must be accountable for their own skill development, by training at home before a coach can be criticized for not teaching the players how to play the game. The document “Champions are Grown in their Backyard” is a must read, as it puts an emphasis on what will truly make your child great at soccer!
As mentioned above, this winter our Coaches Committee plans to unveil a benchmarking document. Our job, now that our club philosophy is established and we are developing quality players, is to help teams/coaches measure their success as well as map out the road to achieving a team’s potential.
As the club and culture of our community evolves, so must our aspirations. The benchmarking system will provide a list of expected outcomes at certain ages and levels of soccer. It will allow coaches and parents (the adults) to see where each player is during their development. A combination of iSoccer evaluating and benchmarking (i.e. making the Infinity SC premier team of your age, attending tournaments of interest, competition in state cup, making the Olympic Development Program team for their age, making the High School team, gaining exposure from college coaches, earning a soccer scholarship and so on) will allow everyone to know what to expect as well as know what is expected to get there. This type of road map will allow adults involved to keep things in perspective. They can be confident that the system is working because their player is meeting goals set by themselves as well as by the club.
Having accurate expectations will also allow parents to prepare for the demands of future (time, travel and money) endeavors. Many clubs promise college scholarships or high school soccer relevancy. Infinity does not promise. However, we are developing, through research and experience, a road map for achievement. We must also empower each player to work for these types of rewards. The club must provide a vehicle (teams) that makes the players desired destinations accessible.
To help the players (and their parents) that have aspirations of playing college soccer we are establishing a college liaison committee. This committee will start generating contacts with college coaches as well as assist college bound players with the recruiting process. The committee will also be in charge of empowering a person to be the Infinity SC college liaison representative of the club.
Emphasizing player development and focus on Long-Term Development has been our focus for the last three years. It will continue to be the emphasis as we move forward as well. But now that our players are maturing (51 Infinity SC girls playing High School Soccer for their respected schools) it is time to provide a higher level of expectation and a road map on how to get there.
Infinity SC is committed to evolving as our players develop.
Any adult with interest, experience, expertise in college recruiting who would like to help with this project are encouraged to email coachjginn@gmail.com so they can be invited to join a College Liaison Committee.
“The future has been written…
…forever futbol!”
-Ginn
Thursday, September 1, 2011
51 Infinity SC Girls Represented at four High Schools
For a complete list of the girls and their coaches click here.
Pictured: Samantha Burton, Infinity SC '97 Premier, Coached By Sherri Dever plays for Mountain Crest High School as a Freshmen
Friday, July 8, 2011
Infinity is trying to change the soccer culture in Northern Utah...
In an article found in TELEGRAPH NEWSPAPER in England we find an article that expresses the same frustrations that Infinity SC feels as it tries to develop a player development philosophy in Northern Utah.
FA head of elite development Gareth Southgate has his work cut out trying to change the future for football
A couple of years ago, the junior football club with which I was associated took an idea to our local youth league. It was that instead of seven-year-olds playing in seven-a-side matches with referees, baying parents on the touchline and results collated into league position, clubs should organise weekly friendlies at four-a-side.
The philosophy behind it was that without the pressure of parentally-imposed competitive structures, children might more enjoy their football, and, with many more touches of the ball available with fewer players on the pitch, develop their skills. There was nothing non-competitive about it: every child would want to win every game they played.
It would be immodest to claim it as our idea. That’s what they do in Holland, in Spain, in Germany, countries that seem to have a reasonable idea how to produce footballers. But when the proposal was raised, the wannabe Fergusons who made up the committee, those managing their little league sides in neatly pressed tracksuits with their initials on the chest, snorted derision.
“Kids want to see their name at the top of the league in the paper,” one said, to much agreement. In fact, most of the committee members thought it would be a better idea to institute competitive leagues for even younger age groups: “How else will they learn how to win?” When it came to a vote, ours was the only one cast in favour. We lost 23-1.
That, in microcosm, was English football : a latticework of self-interest. Never mind the wider good, what about my medals? And I thought of the episode when I heard that Gareth Southgate, the Football Association’s newly-appointed head of elite development, is touring the country, trying to persuade leagues to adopt a policy of small-sided games for young children. Good luck with that, I suggested when I met up with him earlier this week at the launch of the FA’s coaching licence scheme. There are oil tanker captains with easier jobs turning around their ships.
“Actually, there are signs of encouragement,” he said. “I meet lots of young coaches out there who are forward thinking. Yes, there are others set in their ways, but there’s an acknowledgment we have to catch up with the rest of the world. And to do that, one thing is for sure: we can’t carry on with what we’ve been doing.”
Southgate’s task is not a minor one: it is to create a system which nurtures skill. Presently, among Englishmen aged 18 to 25, only a handful demonstrate ball-playing ability to match their European contemporaries. Actually, it is probably only Jack Wilshere who can hold his head up in international company. It is not much better below that: England’s Under-17s were this week evicted from the World Cup by – who else? – Germany.
Partly the issue lies with the Premier League academies, whose processes are under review. But in many ways the problems have been entrenched before young players arrive at elite clubs.
“The under-17s are at the end of the cycle,” Southgate said. “We need to concentrate right at the start of the process. There are so many steps along the way, there’s no scientific path. But I know this: if we don’t give them the right skill base from five until 10 [years of age] it won’t be there whatever you do thereafter.”
In order to do that, Southgate needs to do nothing less than effect an entire change of culture. Through a programme of coach education, he needs to persuade the self-interested parents and junior officials, vicariously living through their offspring, that they are not serving the best interest of the child. He needs to make things fun, with the emphasis on the development of skill. He needs, in short, to reverse the adultification of junior football.
“Parents and coaches have to understand that their child’s enjoyment, what they can learn from the game as people, in terms of team work, defeat and victory, is more important than anything,” he said.
“I do think we have a major cultural issue. We need to end the way in which the little kid is berated for losing the ball on the edge of the area, or the kid is applauded for hoofing it off the pitch.
“Until we alter that mindset then we’ve got a tough task if we want to produce skilful players. None of this will guarantee us a World Cup-winning team. But I’m dead certain that if we don’t change we’ll never have one.”
And as to the critique that the methodology he endorses promotes non-competitiveness, Southgate has a pertinent rebuttal.
“Look at the Williams sisters, they were brought up in an environment of positive reinforcement of hugs and love, they weren’t allowed to play in tournaments until they were 14. And no one could say they lack the will to win,” he said.
“We are trying to put in place ways to create an environment in which every kid – elite or not – can realise their potential within the game. To make football better for every child who plays it. If we don’t achieve anything else, that’s a worthwhile thing to do.”
Listening to Southgate it occurs to me that the FA seems to have done something unusual: made the right appointment. Only time will tell if anyone is prepared to listen to him.
FA head of elite development Gareth Southgate has his work cut out trying to change the future for football
A couple of years ago, the junior football club with which I was associated took an idea to our local youth league. It was that instead of seven-year-olds playing in seven-a-side matches with referees, baying parents on the touchline and results collated into league position, clubs should organise weekly friendlies at four-a-side.The philosophy behind it was that without the pressure of parentally-imposed competitive structures, children might more enjoy their football, and, with many more touches of the ball available with fewer players on the pitch, develop their skills. There was nothing non-competitive about it: every child would want to win every game they played.
It would be immodest to claim it as our idea. That’s what they do in Holland, in Spain, in Germany, countries that seem to have a reasonable idea how to produce footballers. But when the proposal was raised, the wannabe Fergusons who made up the committee, those managing their little league sides in neatly pressed tracksuits with their initials on the chest, snorted derision.
“Kids want to see their name at the top of the league in the paper,” one said, to much agreement. In fact, most of the committee members thought it would be a better idea to institute competitive leagues for even younger age groups: “How else will they learn how to win?” When it came to a vote, ours was the only one cast in favour. We lost 23-1.
That, in microcosm, was English football : a latticework of self-interest. Never mind the wider good, what about my medals? And I thought of the episode when I heard that Gareth Southgate, the Football Association’s newly-appointed head of elite development, is touring the country, trying to persuade leagues to adopt a policy of small-sided games for young children. Good luck with that, I suggested when I met up with him earlier this week at the launch of the FA’s coaching licence scheme. There are oil tanker captains with easier jobs turning around their ships.
“Actually, there are signs of encouragement,” he said. “I meet lots of young coaches out there who are forward thinking. Yes, there are others set in their ways, but there’s an acknowledgment we have to catch up with the rest of the world. And to do that, one thing is for sure: we can’t carry on with what we’ve been doing.”
Southgate’s task is not a minor one: it is to create a system which nurtures skill. Presently, among Englishmen aged 18 to 25, only a handful demonstrate ball-playing ability to match their European contemporaries. Actually, it is probably only Jack Wilshere who can hold his head up in international company. It is not much better below that: England’s Under-17s were this week evicted from the World Cup by – who else? – Germany.Partly the issue lies with the Premier League academies, whose processes are under review. But in many ways the problems have been entrenched before young players arrive at elite clubs.
“The under-17s are at the end of the cycle,” Southgate said. “We need to concentrate right at the start of the process. There are so many steps along the way, there’s no scientific path. But I know this: if we don’t give them the right skill base from five until 10 [years of age] it won’t be there whatever you do thereafter.”
In order to do that, Southgate needs to do nothing less than effect an entire change of culture. Through a programme of coach education, he needs to persuade the self-interested parents and junior officials, vicariously living through their offspring, that they are not serving the best interest of the child. He needs to make things fun, with the emphasis on the development of skill. He needs, in short, to reverse the adultification of junior football.
“Parents and coaches have to understand that their child’s enjoyment, what they can learn from the game as people, in terms of team work, defeat and victory, is more important than anything,” he said.
“I do think we have a major cultural issue. We need to end the way in which the little kid is berated for losing the ball on the edge of the area, or the kid is applauded for hoofing it off the pitch.
“Until we alter that mindset then we’ve got a tough task if we want to produce skilful players. None of this will guarantee us a World Cup-winning team. But I’m dead certain that if we don’t change we’ll never have one.”
And as to the critique that the methodology he endorses promotes non-competitiveness, Southgate has a pertinent rebuttal.
“Look at the Williams sisters, they were brought up in an environment of positive reinforcement of hugs and love, they weren’t allowed to play in tournaments until they were 14. And no one could say they lack the will to win,” he said.
“We are trying to put in place ways to create an environment in which every kid – elite or not – can realise their potential within the game. To make football better for every child who plays it. If we don’t achieve anything else, that’s a worthwhile thing to do.”
Listening to Southgate it occurs to me that the FA seems to have done something unusual: made the right appointment. Only time will tell if anyone is prepared to listen to him.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Soccer America: Youth Insider
Former U-17 coach Roy Rees: USA should be further along
article can be viewed at www.SoccerAmerica.com
By Mike Woitalla
How many players on the U.S. team currently competing at the U-17 World Cup will make a significant impact on the full national team?
Judging from the average of the previous 13 U.S. teams that have competed at each of the biennial world championships since 1985, the answer would be one.
Roy Rees coached the USA at four U-17 World Cups, from 1987 through 1993. He guided the young Americans to historic victories over Brazil in 1989 and Italy in 1991. After the USA, led by Claudio Reyna, beat Brazil, 1-0, in 1989, Brazil’s coach Homero Cavalheiro said, “The United States deserved to win today. They were better as a team; they were better individually.”
Asked how he imagined the future of American soccer two decades ago, Rees says, “I would have expected it to be further along than it is now. They've done well but could have done much better.
"They have developed a whole bunch of very average players but not the great players you need to get that little bit extra. There's a lack of creative players."
Mike Burns and John O'Brien, who played for Rees in the 1987 and 1993 tournaments, were also among the U-17 alums who had the most success with the full national team.
Rees was succeeded by Glenn Myernick (1995), Jay Miller (1997), John Ellinger (1999, 2001, 2003), John Hackworth (2005, 2007) and Wilmer Cabrera (2009, 2011).
Ellinger's 1999 team, which was the first that went into full-time residency in Bradenton, Fla., finished fourth and remains the only squad to win a knockout stage game. It included Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley, Oguchi Onyewu and Bobby Convey. That class proved to be an aberration.
Miller’s 1997 squad included Taylor Twellman and Danny Califf, who went on to long pro careers but had limited success with the full national team. Ellinger’s 2001 and 2003 squads included Eddie Johnson and Jonathan Spector, respectively.
Hackworth’s 2005 team included Jozy Altidore and Neven Subotic, now one of the top defenders in the German Bundesliga, but he plays his national team ball for Serbia.
Rees, a Welshman who served as an English FA staff coach and worked for FIFA as an international coaching instructor before taking over the U.S. U-17s, cites many reasons why the USA hasn't made more profound progress in producing exceptional players. Topping the list is an emphasis on athleticism rather than on skill and understanding the game.
"America had the reputation of being better athletically than everyone else, because at the Olympics they ran faster, were stronger, and threw things farther,” he says. “Those are things that have nothing to do with soccer. At the youth level, big, strong and physical may win games. But the smaller players develop skills to combat the big and the physical, and when they get the growth they’re the ones who get the results."
He also warns of the perils of advocating an orthodox approach to player development:
"It was, 'Coach this way, or get out.' There are different ways of developing players, which is obvious when you see how great players have emerged from different countries."
He says that the insight into the game that great players acquire is something that they develop naturally when they're young, not from being told how to play, but by being given the freedom figure the game out.
“What matters is being able to perceive the game, to predict what happens next," says Rees. "They need to be placed in a situation where they can see it for themselves rather than having it laid out for them. That needs to happen at the youngest levels. They need to be allowed to express themselves and not be tied to the coach’s instructions, or they’ll play like robots.”
Now retired and living in Southern California, Rees is watching this U.S. U-17 team on TV. Not judging it by the scorelines, but whether there are within the group some players with that little bit extra that hints of greatness.
* * * *
The USA opened its U-17 World Cup campaign with a 3-0 win over the Czech Republic on Sunday with goals by Alejandro Guido and Esteban Rodriguez and late sub Alfred Koroma. In their second Group D game, the Americans face Uzbekistan on Wednesday (4 pm ET, Galavision, ESPN3.com).
Uzbekistan lost its opener, 4-1, to New Zealand, which got a hat trick by Stephen Carmichael. Carmichael, making his first start for the Kiwis, hadn’t been part of the squad during qualifying nor for a pre-tournament tour to Qatar.
Go HERE for U-17 World Cup results and schedule.
(Mike Woitalla, the executive editor of Soccer America, coaches youth soccer for East Bay United in Oakland, Calif. His youth soccer articles are archived at YouthSoccerFun.com.)
article can be viewed at www.SoccerAmerica.com
By Mike Woitalla
How many players on the U.S. team currently competing at the U-17 World Cup will make a significant impact on the full national team?
Judging from the average of the previous 13 U.S. teams that have competed at each of the biennial world championships since 1985, the answer would be one.
Roy Rees coached the USA at four U-17 World Cups, from 1987 through 1993. He guided the young Americans to historic victories over Brazil in 1989 and Italy in 1991. After the USA, led by Claudio Reyna, beat Brazil, 1-0, in 1989, Brazil’s coach Homero Cavalheiro said, “The United States deserved to win today. They were better as a team; they were better individually.”
Asked how he imagined the future of American soccer two decades ago, Rees says, “I would have expected it to be further along than it is now. They've done well but could have done much better.
"They have developed a whole bunch of very average players but not the great players you need to get that little bit extra. There's a lack of creative players."
Mike Burns and John O'Brien, who played for Rees in the 1987 and 1993 tournaments, were also among the U-17 alums who had the most success with the full national team.Rees was succeeded by Glenn Myernick (1995), Jay Miller (1997), John Ellinger (1999, 2001, 2003), John Hackworth (2005, 2007) and Wilmer Cabrera (2009, 2011).
Ellinger's 1999 team, which was the first that went into full-time residency in Bradenton, Fla., finished fourth and remains the only squad to win a knockout stage game. It included Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley, Oguchi Onyewu and Bobby Convey. That class proved to be an aberration.
Miller’s 1997 squad included Taylor Twellman and Danny Califf, who went on to long pro careers but had limited success with the full national team. Ellinger’s 2001 and 2003 squads included Eddie Johnson and Jonathan Spector, respectively.
Hackworth’s 2005 team included Jozy Altidore and Neven Subotic, now one of the top defenders in the German Bundesliga, but he plays his national team ball for Serbia.
Rees, a Welshman who served as an English FA staff coach and worked for FIFA as an international coaching instructor before taking over the U.S. U-17s, cites many reasons why the USA hasn't made more profound progress in producing exceptional players. Topping the list is an emphasis on athleticism rather than on skill and understanding the game.
"America had the reputation of being better athletically than everyone else, because at the Olympics they ran faster, were stronger, and threw things farther,” he says. “Those are things that have nothing to do with soccer. At the youth level, big, strong and physical may win games. But the smaller players develop skills to combat the big and the physical, and when they get the growth they’re the ones who get the results."
He also warns of the perils of advocating an orthodox approach to player development:
"It was, 'Coach this way, or get out.' There are different ways of developing players, which is obvious when you see how great players have emerged from different countries."
He says that the insight into the game that great players acquire is something that they develop naturally when they're young, not from being told how to play, but by being given the freedom figure the game out.
“What matters is being able to perceive the game, to predict what happens next," says Rees. "They need to be placed in a situation where they can see it for themselves rather than having it laid out for them. That needs to happen at the youngest levels. They need to be allowed to express themselves and not be tied to the coach’s instructions, or they’ll play like robots.”
Now retired and living in Southern California, Rees is watching this U.S. U-17 team on TV. Not judging it by the scorelines, but whether there are within the group some players with that little bit extra that hints of greatness.
* * * *
The USA opened its U-17 World Cup campaign with a 3-0 win over the Czech Republic on Sunday with goals by Alejandro Guido and Esteban Rodriguez and late sub Alfred Koroma. In their second Group D game, the Americans face Uzbekistan on Wednesday (4 pm ET, Galavision, ESPN3.com). Uzbekistan lost its opener, 4-1, to New Zealand, which got a hat trick by Stephen Carmichael. Carmichael, making his first start for the Kiwis, hadn’t been part of the squad during qualifying nor for a pre-tournament tour to Qatar.
Go HERE for U-17 World Cup results and schedule.
(Mike Woitalla, the executive editor of Soccer America, coaches youth soccer for East Bay United in Oakland, Calif. His youth soccer articles are archived at YouthSoccerFun.com.)
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Teach Principles, Not Aspects
by Travis Clements
Travis Clements has been coaching in Cache Valley for the past eight years. Travis admits that when he first started coaching that he was the classic screamer, yeller, win at all costs coach. After his first season with coaching youth soccer he took the USSF D license and recognized the long term affects of how he was coaching were not good. The process of change began. He implemented the E and D license courses into his coaching and, more importantly, attended the USSF Youth in 2006. Five years after this course and three years in to training "the Infinity SC way" he wrote this article. Travis currently coaches very skilled u9 and u10 girls teams and is continuously looking at ways to improve as a coach and a trainer.
As a coach and trainer, there are only so many hours in a day, and only so many hours we have with our kids to teach them how to play soccer. If we want to maximize our time and get the most out of the sessions we have, those sessions need to be age appropriate and centered around universal concepts, which I will call “Principles” of the game.
When we see the professional game on a Saturday, what are we impressed with? As adults, we are naturally drawn to the tactics of the game, the formation used, attacking patterns, spacing and spectacular feats of skill and athleticism. We also have an appreciation of team chemistry, the melding of complimentary players and the unity of the squad. It’s a fallacy to project these aspects of the professional game into youth soccer if we hope to develop players into what we see and admire on the weekend. If we spend our time on these aspects of the game, our players will never get there. Why? They will never develop the foundation of skill and understanding of the game needed to play it at a high level.
Unfortunately the novice coach, as well as the coach who’s focused on immediate team success, invariably chooses to spend their time addressing “aspects” of the game. Aspects of the game are concepts or features of play that are not always true. The most common of these aspects is positional play. Information taught to a player to help them play a certain position, like Goalkeeper or Wing, is not very useful if they aren’t playing that position. Youth players need the efficiency of being trained principles that are *always* useful, saving specialized topics for when the basics are mastered. Common examples of narrow, inefficient training topics include the popular “Through ball.” At youth levels it is more accurately described as a “kick into space” because the players lack the technique and tactical understanding to make it otherwise. Some choose to spend all their time with set plays, restarts, and creating patterns of play in the mold of typical “American” sports. These methods don’t advance the development of players in a positive or efficient way. Some are worse than teaching nothing at all! Consider on defense, teaching players to kick the ball out of bounds to be “safe.” It conditions players to not read the game, to not trust their ability on the ball and confirms a lack of faith in them from coaches, parents, and teammates alike! They are denied the chance to execute technical skills under pressure. Those players become mindless robots, predictable and unable to think quickly or solve problems on the fly. They lack creativity, imagination and flair. How ironic that those traits so valued at the elite level are being systematically trained out of our players in youth soccer!
It’s easy to stand at a distance and be critical, point fingers and detail shortcomings. What is the solution? If we are holding the kids back by spending so much time teaching aspects of the game, what do we do to fix it?
In youth soccer the players must first be taught the founding principles of play. This takes years. Shortcuts taken during this stage of training will haunt the players for the rest of their playing career. Just like we teach addition and subtraction before taking on multiplication and division, (let alone fractions and variables!) we need to lay a foundation of basics before expanding and specializing. Technical skill is universal to the game and is only acquired, refined and mastered through constant contact with the ball. If we want our players to have ball skills and to be comfortable and calm on the ball, we must teach possession and dribbling before we teach passing. Good decision-making is a universal skill that is only acquired, refined and mastered by players when they are placed in situations that require it. They must be allowed to play without fear of failure, a master of their own environment, where the competition of the game and their internal motivation to win drives them to find ways to achieve success. A player who is expected to listen and obey during play is not learning to make decisions or solve problems.
Teaching players to play in positions is not necessarily bad. The correct teaching of positional play needs to begin at its most basic elements, its principles, with every player exposed to every position. It begins with attacking and defending individually, and then expands to include a teammate, then eventually teammates. It’s not about Forwards, Midfielders and Defenders. Good positional play is derived through players addressing questions posed by the game, not in relation to a painted line or an area on the field. Players need to be trained in ways that help them recognize space, pressure and support, regardless of their assigned position. Don’t teach them to play a position; teach them to play soccer!
Shortcuts to immediate success on the scoreboard have unavoidable long-term consequences. We must have the maturity to set aside our egos and adult competitiveness to benefit the kids. The topics needing attention by our youth are seemingly endless: Dribbling, Passing, Movement off the ball, overlapping runs, receiving the ball, first touch, checking into and out of space, communication, attacking the ball in the air, ball striking technique…
Teaching soccer through the principles of the game is a slower, deeper approach that requires patience and a long-term perspective of player development. It requires commitment and humility. It demands that coaches remain a student of the game as well as the craft of coaching. Kids need to develop in a system that is firmly committed to the individual's progress, NOT expected to learn to play a system and sacrifice themselves and their development for the sake of the team.
Travis L. Clements
Travis Clements has been coaching in Cache Valley for the past eight years. Travis admits that when he first started coaching that he was the classic screamer, yeller, win at all costs coach. After his first season with coaching youth soccer he took the USSF D license and recognized the long term affects of how he was coaching were not good. The process of change began. He implemented the E and D license courses into his coaching and, more importantly, attended the USSF Youth in 2006. Five years after this course and three years in to training "the Infinity SC way" he wrote this article. Travis currently coaches very skilled u9 and u10 girls teams and is continuously looking at ways to improve as a coach and a trainer.
As a coach and trainer, there are only so many hours in a day, and only so many hours we have with our kids to teach them how to play soccer. If we want to maximize our time and get the most out of the sessions we have, those sessions need to be age appropriate and centered around universal concepts, which I will call “Principles” of the game.
When we see the professional game on a Saturday, what are we impressed with? As adults, we are naturally drawn to the tactics of the game, the formation used, attacking patterns, spacing and spectacular feats of skill and athleticism. We also have an appreciation of team chemistry, the melding of complimentary players and the unity of the squad. It’s a fallacy to project these aspects of the professional game into youth soccer if we hope to develop players into what we see and admire on the weekend. If we spend our time on these aspects of the game, our players will never get there. Why? They will never develop the foundation of skill and understanding of the game needed to play it at a high level.
Unfortunately the novice coach, as well as the coach who’s focused on immediate team success, invariably chooses to spend their time addressing “aspects” of the game. Aspects of the game are concepts or features of play that are not always true. The most common of these aspects is positional play. Information taught to a player to help them play a certain position, like Goalkeeper or Wing, is not very useful if they aren’t playing that position. Youth players need the efficiency of being trained principles that are *always* useful, saving specialized topics for when the basics are mastered. Common examples of narrow, inefficient training topics include the popular “Through ball.” At youth levels it is more accurately described as a “kick into space” because the players lack the technique and tactical understanding to make it otherwise. Some choose to spend all their time with set plays, restarts, and creating patterns of play in the mold of typical “American” sports. These methods don’t advance the development of players in a positive or efficient way. Some are worse than teaching nothing at all! Consider on defense, teaching players to kick the ball out of bounds to be “safe.” It conditions players to not read the game, to not trust their ability on the ball and confirms a lack of faith in them from coaches, parents, and teammates alike! They are denied the chance to execute technical skills under pressure. Those players become mindless robots, predictable and unable to think quickly or solve problems on the fly. They lack creativity, imagination and flair. How ironic that those traits so valued at the elite level are being systematically trained out of our players in youth soccer!
It’s easy to stand at a distance and be critical, point fingers and detail shortcomings. What is the solution? If we are holding the kids back by spending so much time teaching aspects of the game, what do we do to fix it?
In youth soccer the players must first be taught the founding principles of play. This takes years. Shortcuts taken during this stage of training will haunt the players for the rest of their playing career. Just like we teach addition and subtraction before taking on multiplication and division, (let alone fractions and variables!) we need to lay a foundation of basics before expanding and specializing. Technical skill is universal to the game and is only acquired, refined and mastered through constant contact with the ball. If we want our players to have ball skills and to be comfortable and calm on the ball, we must teach possession and dribbling before we teach passing. Good decision-making is a universal skill that is only acquired, refined and mastered by players when they are placed in situations that require it. They must be allowed to play without fear of failure, a master of their own environment, where the competition of the game and their internal motivation to win drives them to find ways to achieve success. A player who is expected to listen and obey during play is not learning to make decisions or solve problems.
Teaching players to play in positions is not necessarily bad. The correct teaching of positional play needs to begin at its most basic elements, its principles, with every player exposed to every position. It begins with attacking and defending individually, and then expands to include a teammate, then eventually teammates. It’s not about Forwards, Midfielders and Defenders. Good positional play is derived through players addressing questions posed by the game, not in relation to a painted line or an area on the field. Players need to be trained in ways that help them recognize space, pressure and support, regardless of their assigned position. Don’t teach them to play a position; teach them to play soccer!
Shortcuts to immediate success on the scoreboard have unavoidable long-term consequences. We must have the maturity to set aside our egos and adult competitiveness to benefit the kids. The topics needing attention by our youth are seemingly endless: Dribbling, Passing, Movement off the ball, overlapping runs, receiving the ball, first touch, checking into and out of space, communication, attacking the ball in the air, ball striking technique…
Teaching soccer through the principles of the game is a slower, deeper approach that requires patience and a long-term perspective of player development. It requires commitment and humility. It demands that coaches remain a student of the game as well as the craft of coaching. Kids need to develop in a system that is firmly committed to the individual's progress, NOT expected to learn to play a system and sacrifice themselves and their development for the sake of the team.
Travis L. Clements
Friday, May 13, 2011
Infinity Soccer u12 Premier Boys with guest coach Rob Karas: Possession with a Purpose
Coach Rob Karas, Real Salt Lake's Youth Camp Director, visited Logan and ran three sessions for different Infinity SC teams on Wednesday, May 11th. The first was the following Session with the Infinity SC u12 Premier Boys. Infinity SC coaches were on hand to take notes, get some new ideas and take advantage of the opportunity to work with Coach Karas.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)