In my last blog I wrote of the role that a Soccer Camp can play in developing a young soccer player. This time around I want to explore and investigate some of the routes that might lead to help the younger soccer player develop year round. 10 years ago the buzz expression in soccer circles was "School of Excellence". In recent years the term, certainly in the context of club soccer, has become "Academy". Academy is now catch-all phrase for the programs clubs at all levels are putting together for bringing through their younger players. The teams of the Premiership, for example, all have their own Academies. In the past clubs like Ajax Amsterdam and more recently Barcelona have garnered great notoriety for their Academies. The philosophies of these clubs and the manner in which they have nurtured and brought through the cream of the young talent at their disposal has been held up as an example of how to make the most of young players. In America the Development "Academy" league is still in its infancy as US Soccer attempts to oversee an elite club program designed for the best that American youth soccer has to offer. Locally all the larger clubs have their Academy or "Development" Academy. The premise is really rather simple ... provide a pipeline of players. As these youngsters get older they will become the core of the club's teams as their teams begin to enter leagues. Generally, "competitive" in US Club soccer starts at under 11. Since leaving the College ranks a year ago I have returned in a sense to my coaching roots. Between 1986 and 1990, whilst assisting at Dartmouth College, I helped develop the Upper Valley Lightning Youth Soccer Association. Essentially, I coached constantly! Anyone and everyone who stepped onto the field was fair game! All ages, both genders. (As an aside, I call it my Hamburg period. Beatles fans out there will know what I mean!!) I especially coached extensively with boys and girls u12 and younger. Alot of good players came out of the groups I coached in this era, including one player who eventually played in the MLS. The work I did at that time attracted alot of press with national publications such "Soccer America" & "The NSCAA Soccer Journal" as well as locally with the Boston Globe and many more. On coming to Tufts and Boston the "teenyboppers" were put on the back burner. Over the years, camps apart, the players I worked with, boys or girls, college, club or state team, tended to be u16 and above. A return to coaching younger players appealed as both a change of pace and one with a new set of challenges. Consequently, over the last year, I've become very interested in developing programs for the formative years of budding soccer players. Initially, I worked with one of North Shore MAPLE clubs coaching the Boys and Girls u10 teams and heading up their Development Academy for u8 and below. As a professional soccer coach I was very well aware that soccer has made huge strides in the past 20-25 years. I was intrigued and excited to explore these changes and measure the advances in comparison to my time with Upper Valley. So what exactly had changed? In many respects very little. The kids were the same as always. They will be in another 25 years time. There were some differences, however. The biggest change, predictably, related to competition and all the expectations and baggage that went along with it. My u10 teams were playing in the 8-a-side Mass Premier League playing against teams from all over Massachusetts and Southern New England. Before the season kicked off I anticipated that there we would play a wide variety of opponents and this assumption proved to be quite correct. Children at these ages have very different concept of space compared to older children. Therefore, on one hand, we played teams that little idea of what direction they were playing in. As there were also a good number of kids younger than 9 & 10 in the league, this exacerbated the problem. At the other end of the spectrum we had the well drilled ranks of mini-men and women attempting to execute the kind of moves I would try to do with my college teams! I soon gained greater appreciation why the Football Association in my native England now places importance on age appropriate activities through the lower levels of their coaching license system. Overall, I learned alot in the season on my re-introduction to coaching the junior ranks: 1). There has to be a plan if the goal is to truly develop good young soccer players. That plan has to have both short and long term goals. Furthermore, the plan has to be more than just where will we be next season? How about when they are u12's? u13's? etc.etc 2). Organization! Before even considering any coaching philosophies and curriculum there has to thought given to support the proposed system adequately. Facilities, recruiting methods and developing a pool of suitable coaches all come under this heading. Without these ingredients it will be difficult to sustain something that will be lasting and effective. A program that has these characteristics in place is more liable to be stable and reliable. That is a very important consideration when considering the effectiveness of a purported Academy type program. 3). Balanced Goals for the program. A happy medium has to be achieved between those teams whose children barely know which way they are kicking and the teams of mini-men and women. And yes it still has to be fun! And that's F-U-N in capital letters!! There is nothing wrong with competition but it has to be controlled and kept in perspective. 4). Ultimately, whatever philosophies, goals and curriculum may evolve parents cannot be permitted to dictate. I write this with the greatest respect as I know many well-meaning soccer parents will be reading this article. Unquestionably, some input is needed and of value but a squad of 12 players can also be up to 12 very different perspectives. For example, last fall I inquired at my club as to why so many u10's were playing up with the u11's? Several of these players appeared pretty random to me and it was clear to see that should really have been playing with their own age group. The response was that the players would leave the club if they weren't allowed to play "up" as their parents desired. In my eyes this was an instant flaw in developing long term goals of a sustainable Academy. Under these conditions, the teams will soon become very unstable. The team, and in turn the players, will fall prey to the whim of parents. In my opinion, it is better to let the players drift away sooner rather than later if their families are not compatible with the Academy program that is being put together. Unfortunately, that means giving up good young players at times. Subsequently, over the Winter and Spring I worked with two u10 town programs. One was in the Metrowest area, the other on the North Shore. Both gave me much food for thought. I was able to observe the local youth soccer association at close quarters. For the majority of youth soccer players, this is their initial contact to playing the game. Just from working with 2 YSA's it is very clear to see that there's alot of soccer talent and potential out there! For a coach like myself this is certainly very exciting. So where is all this discussion going? If our goal is to strive to develop good young soccer players on a consistent basis then based on what I have seen over the last 12 months, I would submit that there are no definitive answers. Lots of thoughts and ideas though! Going through my own soccer experiences, my mind turned recently to the u12 North Shore District Select team I coached in the summer of 2007. The team was spectacularly unsuccessful if the measure is going to be by the results of the games they played. As I recall we were much closer to the bottom than the top in that particular campaign. However, fast forward 4 years later and to my best knowledge the boys are all still playing in various places. The boys on that squad have turned into a really fine group of players ... 1 national team player, 1 regional pool player, 4 state team players, 1 state pool player, 5 club team players (several of whom I think are in and around state level) and 1 strong town team player. I can't help but wonder how all these boys compare today to the players on the teams who finished above us that summer? Talent obviously is one reason for the success of these players. Another, factor that I have identified is the type of parental support that the players have received. The boys in this group by enlarge have received very positive support and encouragement from their parents. The result was never the be all and end all to them. Interference with the coach and the program were minimal. Their district select experience is probably long forgotten by my players if remembered at all. It was a very minor contributor in their development and subsequent successes but it still remains a piece in the puzzle. The ability of players, and their families, in youth soccer to absorb the ups and downs of whatever the boys were participating in, was probably duplicated time and again in whatever other soccer experiences they had with their town, club and select teams. Throw in camps, clinics and even tours, add them all together and it totals to a greater whole in terms of the youngster's soccer development. I would suggest that this process might become even more effective and widespread amongst players if soccer players start experiencing the game in a well-thought out and structured Academy type program. You may notice that as this article has progressed the role of parents and families has come more and more to the fore. The role of parents is certainly unique compared to other countries. In fact, I would conclude that in the USA the role of a players parents has a greater effect on an Academy program in comparison to Europe or South America. Paying for participation is undoubtedly a major factor for this situation. It is an issue that needs to be addressed if Academies are to improve within the context of the American youth soccer arena. Putting that aside, there is still alot of great soccer development going on out there. Moreover, it may not all be happening in the most obvious places. Next year I will be coaching a u16 club team. I've signed several players who have no or minimal background in club soccer whatsoever but who I feel will be strong contributors to the squad at the levels we will be playing at. Several of them have been playing in a town program that has clearly permitted and encouraged their development of skills and techniques. I believe this will help them become excellent soccer players next year and beyond. Significantly, I would speculate that league titles, state championships and the like have not been really been on the radar screen when it came to their soccer development. For a coach like myself the aim is to harness some of these ingredients into an Academy program that develops good players with consistency. The merits of their Academy training will not be felt until they are older at whatever level of the game they may seek to accomplish. It will certainly produce better and more skilled players for clubs, high schools and colleges. Hopefully, for levels beyond this! So refer to these programs as an Academy or a School of Excellence. You can call it whatever you like! Effective programs such as these can and will have a tremendous impact on player development for youth soccer players. For me, this is something of a Holy Grail after 25 years of coaching youth soccer in the USA. I hope to build one sometime in the near future! |
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PLAYER DEVELOPMENT: TALES OF DISTRICT SELECT AND ASSORTED YOUTH SOCCER ACADEMIES
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