YOUTH SOCCER CLUBS HAVE MASSIVE RESPONSIBILITIES TO PLAYERS
GORDON MILLER-VYSA TECHNICAL DIRECTOR OF COACHING
When we see high level soccer players on TV or in person we marvel at their skill, athleticism, and, for the most part, grace. They execute their moves with fluidity and seem to make the game look easy to the untrained eye. But, in order to rise to that level we know that they had to spend countless hours and year on their own and with their friends in their youth clubs, honing their skills and perfecting their technique on their own.
Training alone or playing pickup games is something that governing bodies, leagues and associations have no influence over. It is well known in sporting circles that for players to develop a passion and true love for the game, playing outside of their structured team sessions is a pre-requisite. It only stands to reason then that the third part of the equation, the club, must provide the player with other ingredients (tactical understanding, quality coaching, physical preparation, psychological development, etc.) necessary to further accelerate the players’ development.
When all is said and done, the player spends the majority of his/her time in the club system of their youth. Therefore, that club has a massive responsibility to make sure that it creates the necessary environment and provides the structure and tools that foster quality growth for the young soccer players.
What is a club? There are various interpretations throughout the state that take on a vast array of forms. Some consider a club one or two teams that share the same name, but nothing more. Some clubs have a couple of girls travel teams and a couple of boys travel teams. While others have formed a club consisting of recreational teams from under 4 to 12. In the current VYSA system a coach, for example, can get into a disagreement with their present club and decide to breakaway, take his team and go form his own club, whether the disagreement was philosophical or logistical, whether, the coach has any background (licenses or playing) in the game or not, or whether it was prompted by parents seeking greener pastures for their children. Whatever reason is cited, the mechanism that guides the player’s development can be formed at the drop of a hat.
What we call clubs in Virginia for the most part, are not true clubs at all. They might be individual teams sharing the same name and wearing the same colors but have no discernible link between them. There is no shared philosophy, no common vision, no planned path for the players to ascend, no coach’s meetings to share ideas and no idea what the other teams in the club are doing. So in reality we have a huge number of individual teams that, ant the end of the player’s time in youth soccer, hope they got it right.
There is also the problem of parents hiring and firing the coach and paying him directly for the service of coaching their children. There are a host of player development issues that arise when the parents remunerate the coach for his or her rendered services. How do the parents know that they are getting the best person, with the right skills, at the right moment in their child’s development?
Simply put, they look at the overall record of the coach and solicit other parents’ opinions. But, this is not professional soccer where wins and loses are the bottom line to survival. This is youth soccer where the children are growing, learning and maturing at different rates. This is about taking the clay and molding it so that the end result is a more complete player. This is about the development of the child.
Once the parent committee secures the services of the coach, how do they really know for sure if the guy is doing what he’s supposed to be doing? How do they know if their child is progressing the way they ought to be? For the majority of them the only tangible measuring stick they can use for gauging success is that old won and loss record again.
Otherwise, you are asking them to use subjective analysis to determine whether their son or daughter is getting better it can’t be done effectively. For example, how do the parents know how many games are too much? How do they know whether the player is learning the right skills or the proper tactics at the right time for the different situations? If the parents don’t have the training in player development, have quality background in the game, and then it becomes a gut feel or a guess to the standard of success.
Another area where priorities get a little skewed is when the parents decide that their team isn’t winning as much as it should be and they want to get rid of the coach or move their child to a, “winning program.” When in fact, their coach may be doing exactly the right thing for the age group in terms of training techniques, player development principles and generally creating an environment where the players will turn out to be more complete players in the long run.
Let me give you an example; you are the coach of a 13-year-old team and you are trying to teach them how to build up and to come out of the back with the ball. You are encouraging your players to play short balls out, looking to keep possession and training them to see a number of different options so they don’t become predictable. You are developing your defenders to be more comfortable on the ball and teaching them how to deal with pressure in your own defending 1/3. However in the process, your team will not be able to accomplish this right away and will, more than likely, give the ball up and give away scoring opportunities and ultimately goals to the opposition. Henceforth, the parents see the goals going in, the losses pile up and they demand your head or, at least a change in your methods. You start to feel the head and, in order to keep the pay coming in, decide to capitulate and end up putting pressure on the players to boom the ball out of the back the second the opportunity presents itself.
Thus, the team might not concede too many goals and may actually end up winning more in the short term. But, if the team’s shortcomings are not properly addressed, the long ball game is all they will be able to do when they get to be 17 or 18. Of course that particular style, when you’re older, is an easier game to defend against, and that type of player predictable in its nature. A learning environment should be fostered and encouraged when the players are younger so that a more complete, efficient and better-balanced player is developed in the long run.
A potential solution to this would be to form a model club where there are boys and girls travel teams are represented in each age group and a solid recreation base is formed that feeds into it. The recreation players see what’s ahead of them in a clear manner and the interaction with the travel portion will help develop the grass-roots coaching standards.
Also, hire or appoint a full or part time individual (the Technical Director) to oversee the technical development, player development and coaching development within the club.
The hired person should possess a high level playing background, show a commitment to coaching education by possessing an A or B level coaching license (or equivalent), and have a proven track record in the development of youth soccer players.
Then get out of his way and let him do his job. We have a lot of good volunteers in the club system, which we desperately need to make it all, work. But, qualified soccer people should be making the soccer decisions. Once the club is formed, the parents, who are currently paying the coach directly, should now pay the club. The club’s Technical Director should be given the responsibility of hiring the individual age group coaches and paying them what he thinks they are worth. He can now go and get the best coaches available that display strengths at certain age groups, to work in his club. Allow them to flourish under guidance from a soccer expert rather than be oppressed by undue or misguided pressure in soccer matters from the parents.
The Technical Director can now set the training priorities for the different age groups and closely monitor them, to ensure they are being followed. He can guide the talent through the club from top to bottom. He can conduct productive coaches’ meetings and make sure that they are training the proper aspects of the game at the right moments in the child’s development.
He can help train the players so that one coach (the team coach) is training for the moment and one (himself) has an eye on the future needs. He can give council and direction on what tournaments, activities and events the teams should attend.
He can take aspiring players and have them train with older teams or play up in designated tournaments. In general, he can provide a quality-learning environment for everyone involved with the club so that all the players are guided by a professional and thorough process and are ultimately developed by design rather than by chance.
