Soccer America Magazine 'Whether boys or girls: be consistent, send clear message'

Two Interviews by Mike Woitalla

INTERVIEW #1
A youth coach for nearly three decades, Theresa Echtermeyer is a director of coaching with Colorado United and also coaches the Mountain Vista High School boys and girls teams. She is a National Staff Coach and Instructor for the NSCAA. Echtermeyer spoke to us for the Youth Soccer Insider's ongoing interview series on key issues facing American youth soccer.

SOCCER AMERICA: If you had a magic wand, how would you use it to improve youth soccer in America?

THERESA ECHTERMEYER: This would have to be a magic, magic wand. I would like to see us all work together more so that we would be supporting our players of all ages and all levels.

You’ve got USYS, the Federation, US Club Soccer. You’ve got recreational, competitive. You’ve got professional, collegiate, high school, youth. There are so many different things that have the potential to pull us apart. Because sometimes when you’re competitive, whether to win a championship or to have players at your club, we forget we’re really all in it together.

SA: As someone who oversees the recreational program at Colorado United/Highlands Ranch Soccer Association, has coached competitive youth ball, W-League, and coaches high school ball -- you’ve been involved in many different areas of the game …

THERESA ECHTERMEYER: What I’ve seen is we really have more opportunities to learn from each other and help each other out, which at the end of the day helps the kids.

The more we share ideas and the more we work together the better it is for our kids. So we should always be asking two questions with every decision we make.

First, “Is this what’s best for the kids?”

Second, “Is this what’s best for soccer in America?”

REST OF INTERVIEW CAN BE FOUND BY CLICKING HERE

INTERVIEW #2 Tom Howe helped found St. Louis' Scott Gallagher SC in 1976 and coached future stars such as Tim Ream, Brad Davis and Pat Noonan. One of his alums, Cal coach Kevin Grimes, calls Howe "a legend, one of the best youth coaches ever." Last year, after Scott Gallagher merged with Busch SC and Metro United, Howe left and started a new club, Woodson City Rangers. Howe, a St. Louis product himself who starred at SIU-Edwardsville and played in the old NASL, spoke to us for the Youth Soccer Insider's ongoing interview series with leaders of U.S. youth clubs.

SOCCER AMERICA: If you had a magic wand, how would you use it to improve youth soccer in America?

TOM HOWE: I wish everybody would try and play like Barcelona. If all the clubs across the country did that you’d have some pretty smart players when they hit the ages of 18, 19, 20.

And there’d be more people wanting to watch soccer in this country. Barcelona’s the best team I’ve ever seen. They’re just fun to watch.

Another thing about Barcelona -- they don’t have a lot of these gigantic athletes who everybody wants to get these days.

SA: What’s the key to playing like Barcelona?

TOM HOWE: The ability to play in tight spaces. You spend tons of time playing in small, tight areas, and then when you get on the big field it’s not a big deal.

I think more teams need work on the possession game. All the best teams in the world over the years have been great technical teams – like Spain, Barcelona. Teams like that play the best soccer.

At the youth level, too many people play more to win. My point is, if you teach your kids to play like Barcelona you’re eventually going to win.

SA: But while you’re learning to play like that you might not win …

TOM HOWE: That’s exactly right. Learning to play like that takes a long time, but once you get it, you’re going to be good. The problem is a lot of people don’t have the patience.

You tell your young players don’t boot it no matter how much pressure you’re under. We want you to get good at this. And at a certain age, you know what, they learn how to deal with it.

Look at how many players we have in this country. At this stage we should be a lot better than we are.

SA: Over the years, have you seen American youth teams playing better soccer?

TOM HOWE: At the youth level, I still see a lot of long balls -- not from all teams. There are more and more better teams each year, but I wish more would try to play good soccer.

We play against teams that boot the ball a lot, and they might beat you. But they won’t beat you five years from now.

You’re going to lose until you get to a certain age. Then you get to a certain level you’re going to be really good. You’re going to play the game the right way – and it’s a beautiful game when it’s played right. I don’t think it’s such a beautiful game when it’s played in a different way.

I can hardly watch college soccer except for a couple teams. Akron -- I like watching them play. They play well and they won the national championship playing like that. Why do a couple of teams play like that and nobody else does?

SA: Tim Ream is a remarkably good young American defender in that he relies more on smarts than brawn and keeps possession for his team after he wins the ball. He said you were his biggest influence as a coach in his youth days …

TOM HOWE: He was on one of our last really good [Scott Gallagher] teams. He said that because he learned that at Gallagher, where we made our defenders pass it out of the back. We’d get criticized for passing too much.

I think when you play like that you get good at it. I think that’s the proper way to approach it. Timmy’s just a very good passer out of the back. I think that’s why Timmy’s so calm on the ball. He’s been doing that since he was little.

REST OF INTERVIEW CAN BE VIEWED BY CLICKING HERE