SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP Player Development - through eyes of a Mother

Winning games versus winning championships.....is a point of clarification. If you are on the sideline you coach to win.

The development vs winning argument really comes down to how you roster your team, how you train, the goals you set for the team.

Best developmental coach my kids or I have been around without question is Lou Pantuosco, who coaches at Palmetto United. Intensely competitve....he will try to win the game. But his longer term goals are really more about making kids better. A couple of my sons Academy teammates have trained with him and their parents were amazed at the technical focus and teaching that goes on.

I'll also throw out Ralph Wager's name. Ralph may or may not be known to a lot of SC folks but he is the technical director at Steele Creek which sees a lot of young YC kids. Ralph amazes me in working with the kids.....very patient and not at all concerned or ruffled by the normal behaviour of 6-10 year old kids. All he does is give the kids a fantastic technical foundation.

Finale: http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-socc...5-The-Last-Word

For such strong criticism of the 'system', the mom does not offer up many feasible solutions..

Bigdaddy:

I made a couple of errors - first, he played for FC Delco in the DA. Second, the Philadelphia Union team is not a DA team, but an academy team for the MLS club that doesn't currently play in the DA. He played with them in the SUM U-17 Cup last year. That's an MLS only competition.

Happy Daddy.....I read the articles and got the info about Philly Union Academy from the article.

I don't know the facts of the story and would love to have all of the holes filled in with a timeline!!!! Still, a good series....interesting story. One most of can pick parts out of and closely identify with.

I definetely think youth soccer is getting better in this country.

I have the vantage point of have 3 older kids (21,19,17) and a 7 year old. The soccer enviornment for my 7 year old is vastly different that the one my older kids started in. Differences at the u6/u8 level.....smaller teams, smaller sided games, 1 night a week of skills driven pool training, more investment in coaching training, introduction of summer based 3 v 3 games, etc.

I also think the move a few years ago...which I whined about...to extend small sided format has beena huge benefit. Keeping older kids on a smaller field with fewer players encourages and rewards technical development and cleaner, better soccer. I don'tsee how anyone now, after the fact, would argue that putting 9 and 10 year olds on a full sized field with 21 other kids.....probably wasn't the best thing to do in terms of development.

Problem is....our culture here will never approximate that of Germany or Spain or Mexico or England. We will never be in a situation where a talented player can live in a town of 40,000 people and have multiple talented teams to play for and not have to travel for games.

We don't have that depth....probably never will. Nor will we probably ever see kids having neighborhood pickup games. Again, the culture is geared to doing that with football or basketball. And in terms of pickup games...I'm not talking about kids who play agreeing to meet at X field at a certain time. I'm talking about true backyard games. Neighbor kids. Use old shoes as goals. Sidewalk is one touch line, road is the other. Don't think we'll see that.

I found the series to be interesting, odd in parts, and somehow off-putting. In my eight years of involvement in "elite" boys soccer (as a parent and club president), I've seen variations of these folks along the way. I don't pretend to be in a position to judge their opinions or decisions.

One of the things that makes sport so compelling is that there is seldom a "right" way to do anything. A fast, good shooting basketball team against a big, powerful defensive team is an intriguing game. Stoke against Arsenal is an intriguing game. Bubba Watson, who's never had a golf lesson in his life, and has a swing no one should try to imitate, is better than 98% of his fellow professionals who can't leave home without a coach, a psychologist, a nutritionist and a massage therapist in their NetJet.

That said, most would agree that there are certain individual fundamentals and basic philosophies of team play that increase the likelihood of success. To my mind their are three particular areas that are generally under-coached - close control (incl the ability to receive a firm pass), passing (incl playing with one's head up), and movement without the ball. Understanding how movement off the ball creates the situations in which successful attacking moves can occur is not sufficiently emphasized, in general. Movement is too static or sequential, as opposed to dynamic and comprehensive. Players don't seem to understand (again, in general) that everything they do, everywhere they go, or don't go, matters greatly to what happens next.

I am very excited about the training program and philosophy being implemented by Claudio Reyna at US Soccer. It is modeled after the Real Madrid program and addresses all of the above, and more. US Soccer will demand that its principles be followed by the DA coaches and teams. While its impact won't be immediate, over time it will have a hugely positive impact.

Well said Happy. All players must take responsibility for the opportunities they are charged with creating with and without the ball at their feet. Dynamic movement in anticipation of receipt of the ball or not is the key to fluid play development. Pace, playing with the head up and knowing one's pressure prior to receipt of the ball is critical. Player development is advancing but far too many players find it difficult to play such a style because their mental state is to first beat a defender with the ball vs with the use of space and simple touches. Time will tell.

I think some of you would be surprised at the amount of small sided games(with restrictions) that are used at the high school level that several posters here refer to. Problem is, results are often mixed because of the different talent levels.
Perhaps at the Academy level this will bare significant fruit. This is a key tool in training( the Europeans and alot of the rest of the world have doing this for quite some time).
If this is indeed the direction Reyna is taking US Soccer and the Academy and Club soccer in general follows, I think good things might happen.
Cold Hard Truth mentions Craig Brady( great soccer mind). If the Lower State could get this man involved with a leadership role,wow--sky would be the limit.

One of the observations I have made with the games I have watched in the low country in both club and high school is the lack of commitment to the pass even when players are open or have made a run. Some coaches are generally seduced by the one or two players on their team who are good handlers of the ball to give them leeway to do whatever they want with the ball. Typically these players will hold the ball too long as they won't be looking for the open pass until they have beaten 3 to 5 people.Depending on the competition they are playing on that day, the team might still win the game and the coaches go home feeling like it has been a good day at the office. Unfortunately this a real setback for player development. The players who have been moving around all day to get open for a pass and those that have been making diagonal runs to get in position to score are tired and discouraged because the ball never came. If I would say anything to american coaches as a fundamental development strategy it would be - "commit to the pass". With this as a foundation, the first touch is developed to receive passes effectively and moving without the ball is either to receive or prevent a pass.
Yeah. I am over simplifying but you know what I mean.
I am hoping the new US Soccer system will address this.