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The post How to Train Effective with Nick Humphries – part one appeared first on Youth Soccer Evolution.

The first issue with the large number of youth soccer clubs is intensified when players from one area are discouraged to play with players from another area for several reasons. Due to the substantial money involved with youth soccer clubs, the goal becomes a number (of players) and not soccer player development. Clubs begin to focus, not on player development, but on the number of soccer players and teams within the club. Why does this matter so much? Several reasons that include competition, money, bragging rights, growth, and/or winning. Notice that soccer player development is not one of them. Why? That’s easy, there’s no incentive for clubs to develop players. In other countries, the clubs receive money for training and developing talent, not here, so why bother. So, the ONLY way to make money in youth soccer is to recruit as many soccer players as possible and charge as much as possible, and yes parents will pay thousands of dollars just so their kid can kick a soccer ball.

While soccer clubs are fighting over players, the soccer coaches take sides and that leads us to the second issue with the large number of youth soccer clubs in the US. One club will have 3 talented top tier soccer coaches, while another will have another 2 good ones, and the other soccer club another 3-4. Some of the best soccer coaches are the soccer club technical directors or the club’s director of coaching. However, each soccer club will have one of these, so in a good size city with 5-6 youth soccer clubs, those good coaches will be divided up into 3-4 top soccer clubs. This leaves many clubs with good soccer teams without qualified soccer coaches.

The goal of a soccer community should be to have all the best coaches in one or two clubs, with the best soccer players going to those clubs so that they can get the best coaching, competition, and training in the area. I know that US Soccer has tried with the DA, but that’s just another made up name for the same league, same coaches, same players, HIGHER PRICE. Same goes for MRL and whatever name they come up with next so they can charge even higher prices. So, what is stopping the clubs from getting together? Money, greed, politics, and stubbornness. The thing that puzzles me is that most of the clubs are “non-profit” and are supposed to be set up to HELP player development, but instead are directly hindering the development of these youth soccer players.
The other issue is parents are almost clueless. The majority of parents will throw money at “training” they think is a magic pill for little Johnny to make it big. Here’s a little secret…… clubs, coaches, and leagues don’t make players. It’s a mixture of DNA, environment, and psychology. More on that later.

I think the solution to this problem is the soccer community coming together and identifying a soccer club that will be the top tier club in the area. The rest of the clubs can support that club and send players and coaches to the club. Those clubs on the lower tier would get compensated for sending players and/or coaches to the top tier club. This way the “lower tier” clubs can continue recruiting and developing youth soccer players, but never hoarding them, as they will move on to the top tier club eventually. That’s how it works in other countries.

In Spain, a small club in Barcelona competes with Barca, but they also are extremely proud and delighted when one of their players makes the Barca academy! Why shouldn’t they be? They were part of that player’s development and now they have a chance to someday play professional soccer. The child is now on a path to professional soccer. Barca has all the resources to help that player, great coaching, the finest soccer fields, a great environment, professional training (and I mean professional), great players, culture, and as I stated before, a clear path to the pros.

So, what if each soccer community could pool their resources and put one soccer club together with the best of everything soccer that community has to offer? I think we would be much more efficient in soccer player development and the ones that would benefit the most from this are the kids and US Soccer. Shouldn’t that be the goal anyway? If we shared the responsibility of training and developing soccer players, we could celebrate the accomplishments of every single youth soccer player we develop as a community of soccer clubs, coaches, and parents. We could also dramatically lower the cost of playing soccer, which would open the doors to even more youth soccer players.
Let me know your thoughts below.

The post How the large number of youth soccer clubs impacts youth soccer player development appeared first on Youth Soccer Evolution.

IMNOTYOU.COM is a brand reserved for highly competitive athletes, who desire to take their game to new and dominant levels, and refuse to “fit in” and settle for average.

It’s the mindset you MUST have if you want to dominate your sport and reach your goals.
As an athlete, there are 3 areas that you have got to master if you want to succeed and break through and Niyi breaks these down for us during the podcast.

Mindset
You must have unshakeable believe in yourself and your abilities. Your beliefs, your visions, and your language and attitude have got to reflect the goals you have.

Habits
You MUST make sure you are doing all the things necessary, every day, to develop the consistency and skill. If you don’t, you can never expect to dominate, or even play well, on a consistent basis.

Systems & Strategies
You can’t afford to be “random”. If you take random actions, expect random results. All of your moves must be calculated, and part of a bigger picture.

If you want the results you say you do, you are going to have to take on an entirely different attitude, a different mindset. You will have to adopt the belief that will set you apart, and make sure that you stay strong when others are weak.

You’ll have to adopt the same belief I had during 3 hour 2 a day practices in blistering New orleans heat, when I was the lowest man on the totem pole trying to earn my spot. That belief is..

“I’m Not You.”

They give up. You re-up.

They compete. You Dominate.
If you’re up for that challenge, then listen to the podcast, visit www.IMNOTYOU.com/yse and get the Free report to start dominating.

The post How Young Athletes Can Dominate Soccer And Other Areas of Their Life appeared first on Youth Soccer Evolution.

digitalphotos

I knew that educating soccer coaches, players, and parents would be difficult based on the popularity of Futsal in the US. However what I learned today was very depressing. I have started to put together a few teams with skilled players that can compete in the newly formed Futsal Premier League. I did not want to just collect money from players and show up with any team. I want to train a good group of motivated kids and have a good base to compete in league play. There are no Futsal teams in my area, so none of the kids are committed to Futsal for the summer.

The first thing I did was contact a few players that are very good and I knew personally. I started with 3 players. Futsal is only 5 v 5 so we don’t need many substitutes. After getting 3 good players, I set out to recruit a few more at the local soccer fields.

I then sent an email out to all of the soccer coaches in the area and explained to them that I may speak with one or more of their players. I tried to do the right thing by explaining that the Futsal academy was not associated with any club and poaching players was never a goal. I also offered postings for coaches who were interested in coaching with the Futsal Academy. The goal was to work together with all the clubs in the area to create the best teams to compete in the Futsal Premier League.

I saw a very good player and gave a flyer to the parents about Futsal. I didn’t want to recruit until I spoke with the soccer coach personally. The following day I contacted the coach and explained the Futsal Academy. That it would help the player with game intelligence, quicker feet, and movement off the ball. I explained that the Futsal Academy would not interfere with any of his soccer training and/or club season. I explained my goals again about uniting the clubs and creating a Futsal Academy and why it was important to work with all the clubs.

The answer from the soccer coach is what led me to write this article. He explained that his club was tired of losing players to teams in the area. He said that he would not be discussing anything with the player because he didn’t want to lose the player. Although I appreciated his honesty, I could not help but feel disappointed. Not because the soccer coach wouldn’t speak on my behalf, because I can always reach out to the player and family myself, but because it reminded me of how soccer coaches and clubs hold players back so that they can look good as soccer coaches and clubs.

The clubs and soccer coaches, who should be advocating and promoting player development with players, are willing to hold players back so that they can benefit. They look at players as numbers and dollar bills. They may find programs or services that can help the player reach new heights, but soccer coaches are willing to hide these tools from players for fear of losing them. How selfish is this? Think about how many players have been hindered because the parents don’t know any better and the soccer coach refuses to actually help this player so that they can keep them. And I have seen this over and over again.

In case you are wondering, I have personally sent players from my smaller club to a larger club where I thought the player would flourish and I can prove this. Why have I done this? Because I know it’s about the player, not the club or soccer coach. The players give everything they have for the club and the parents pay for their child to play there. Why do soccer coaches feel like they own these players? Why aren’t coaches and clubs actually serving their players like the loyal customers that they are? The best players pay the same fees that the bench players pay, yet these skilled players make your team look really good. These players are repaid by thwarting their soccer player development.

I was upset, but again very grateful that the coach was honest with me. I know his fear is real and it demonstrates what the priorities of the club are. Clubs are fighting over kids, not because they want to serve them, but because they want to look good with wins and grow the bottom line. The truth is that the more kids in a club, the more money it is generating. What’s the big deal with this? Well clubs in other countries are actually developing players, that’s their main priority. They want to develop a player to play on the first team and they will do whatever it takes, including exposing the players to new ways of training.

I hope parents realize what is happening in the “club scene”. Unfortunately many of them have very little soccer player development knowledge and are being taken advantage of. This is sad not only for the parents and the kids, but for the soccer community as a whole. How can we ever create world class players when everyone is trying hide them from from each other in fear of losing them?

My E-book on player development for parents will be coming out soon. If you would like a free copy, send me an email.

The post How Greedy Soccer Coaches Thwart Player Development appeared first on Youth Soccer Evolution.

” I think helping people understand that soccer players can benefit from playing futsal is good but what is even better is that some players will be even better futsal players than they ever will be soccer players and when people see these guys in full flow they will excite spectators and grow your audience”

This is something we need to start advocating now that we have a US Youth Futsal National Team and a Professional Futsal League. As Futsal educators and advocates, we should not only think about improving the soccer player, but WE need to start thinking about developing the next Futsal player. We have a new goal and that goal is aligned with what we are already trying to do, develop futsal players for the future.

So from now on, not only will I educate parents on how futsal can enhance the skills of a soccer player, but that your son or daughter may one day become an excellent Futsal player, and there is nothing wrong with that. As a matter of fact it should be celebrated. Futsal players are no joke and are admired Futsal players around the world. Falcao and Ricardinho are just two of the best. Speaking of Ricardinho, I am working on a post about his development. Ricardinho tried out for soccer clubs as a kid, he was told by a soccer coach that he was too small to play soccer. He thought he would never play soccer again. A coach saw him playing and asked him to join their futsal team. In 2010 he won the Futsal Player of the Year award, more on that later. This happens to thousands of kids here in the US. Since the majority of coaches are in the “win at all costs” bandwagon, the smaller “weaker” players are pushed to the side. But now we can offer them Futsal! and just like Ricardinho, they will have an opportunity to continue their love for soccer and futsal. Futsal welcomes every player, big or small. The advantages of size in Futsal are very few (you can always use that big Pivo or Fixo). Now the smaller technically gifted players neglected by soccer coaches will have a Futsal coach waiting for them with open arms. And they will be given the ball and the crowd will request creativity.

Parents, coaches, and clubs need to understand that Futsal should no longer be viewed as only a tool to enhance the skills and development of a soccer player, but as a sport that will produce its own brilliant players. We as coaches and parents need to recognize that and give the opportunity to the kids to develop as futsal players if they choose to go that route. We should be taking the approach of Spain and Brazil by letting the kids start out with futsal and then allowing them to progress to the outdoor game. This will improve their development tremendously for numerous reasons, including the fact that they won’t be playing 7 v 7 when they are only 8 years old. The fact that the US has so much land for soccer fields is actually a curse when you look at it through a soccer player development perspective. Because we have the real estate to build soccer fields all over the place, we think that every child should be playing on a regular size field. So just by introducing the kids to futsal at an early age, the soccer player development process will be improved. Futsal is not going anywhere, the quicker that coaches and parents realize that, the quicker we can progress and start developing players. Youth Futsal leagues are popping up everywhere and as Keith Tozer said, we have the most futsal courts in the entire world (we have 2-3 gyms in every school). The future looks bright for Futsal and Futsal players around the globe.

What are your thoughts about the US developing a world class futsal player? can it be done? or Will we find coaches to stunt their growth?

The post Soccer development shouldn’t be the ONLY goal for Futsal players appeared first on Youth Soccer Evolution.

Courtesy Mlive.com

For Episode 13 of the YSE Podcast we had the privilege of speaking to Martin Blanc.
Martin is a recent graduate of the prestigious Kalamazoo College, a private school located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he played four years of collegiate soccer. Martin brings us a unique point of view of American Soccer training and development. Martin was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and moved to the United States at the age of 13 years old. He credits much of his development to the environment where he grew up, and states that his unique style of play comes from the streets. A former coach of Martin, Mr. Dustin Snyder, once described Martin as “a unique player with the Latin flair”. He is a pleasure to play with, against, and watch play.

Martin offers us so many incredible stories about his upbringing in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He describes the environment and recalls being a kid in his backyard, trying to emulate the greats from his hometown such as Pablo Aimar and Javier Saviola. According to Martin, there was not a whole lot of coaching going on, but there was some from his father and some relatives.

He credits his technical ability to playing Papi Futbol in Argentina, on the streets of Buenos Aires. Papi Futbol is a 5 a-side game played by all youth in Argentina. He recalls playing soccer with a flattened juice box because balls were not allowed during recess. He also spent time juggling an empty water bottle with friends. He described how the political unrest in Buenos Aires, which caused several strikes by teachers at the school, sent him to play on the streets. School would be canceled each time there was a strike, instead of wasting the day, Martin and his friends took advantage of the day off from school and would go rent a field to play the entire day.

Martin describes his transition from Papi futbol, which is 5-a-side to full 11 v 11 when he was 14 years old in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He also gives us his advice on why players should prepare themselves physically when they start getting older and playing at higher levels.

Martin also credits watching soccer on television with his father and even today as a tool to continue learning. He explains the difference between deliberate practice and playing for the love of the game. If you play for the love of the game, deliberate practice will be a game once you get older.

During the podcast, Martin will also share some of the issues with making into a professional youth academy in countries like Argentina. He recalls a specific, but unfortunate, incident during his tryout at 12 years old with Argentinos Juniors. Although Martin made the squad there were a few issues with what he was facing.

Martin’s #1 most important advice that he gives players, coaches, and parents today is to let the kids have fun. Once the child is in love with the game, they will find the desire within to get better. The child will play soccer for fun and improve their skills without realizing that. This is what Ted Kroeten refers to in his interview, the intrinsic learning.

Martin offered his email for anyone that wants to reach out to him, to discuss futbol, papi futbol, or any questions about Argentinian soccer. Martin can be reached at martinblanc10@gmail.com

If you like this story and podcast, please consider sharing it with friends and soccer fans on twitter or facebook!

The post YSE 13: Soccer and Papi Futbol in Argentina with Martin Blanc appeared first on Youth Soccer Evolution.

During the past 15 years, I’ve worked with thousands of kids on dribbling. I have also implemented all of these steps to my own routine and saw major improvements. Today I will share with you what I learned from my peers, coaches, and kids I’ve trained.

How to Maximize Player Development as a player, parent, coach, and administrator

One of the misconceptions about dribbling is that it’s only used to take a player on. Dribbling is also part of possession and defense. Dribbling is essential for even the keeper because every player must be able to receive a pass, dribble into space or away from pressure and make another pass, or shoot, while holding their head up to see the soccer field.

Another misconception about dribbling in soccer is that it has to be flashy or really creative. Just watch a player like Leo Messi. Messi is a player that keeps the football very close to his body, using only feints and small short quick touches on the ball, with quick sprints. He is the best in tight spaces. But if you watch Messi closer you see that he only uses, the inside and outside of his feet to dribble the soccer ball. He does nothing special with heels or scissors or all these other “moves” that are popular among travel soccer coaches. All he does is makes a defender unbalanced by using his body, but his touches on the football are just inside and outside, for the most part. You can dribble just like Messi at the age of 7 or 8, but the key is to increase the speed.

If you understand this, then you can teach a 7 year old Messi’s moves, and they can do them! The difference is that Messi was doing these moves by the time he was 5 years old. So by the time he was about 12, he had already practiced them about 10,000 hours. When most kids were still learning how to dribble, he was working on repetition and increasing the speed. Today he is just too quick with the ball. I tell you this because you don’t need to get fancy with soccer moves; you just need to improve your ability to perform the simple ones at a faster speed. There is no single soccer drill that is going to give you a head start or help you get ahead; you have to practice each touch (inside, outside, sole, etc.). But don’t fall for the trap that there is a single drill out there that can fix everything.

Lucky for you, soccer dribbling is the easiest to practice and you need no special equipment, so there is no excuse. These are the tips I recommend to help you increase your dribbling speed.

You can grab a ball and walk around dribbling it inside your home. This is one of the ways I improved my dribbling. Remember, nothing fancy, you don’t want to break anything in your home, just dribble the ball, inside, outside, soles, laces, etc. You should already be in tight spaces with furniture, walls, and people in the home, make them defenders and don’t let the ball touch any of them, keep it under your control.
You can do chores and dribble at the same time. When I was home, I would go wash my hands while dribbling to the sink, then go back to my room, dribbling, in the middle of doing my homework. Then get a snack while dribbling the ball. You can get about 1,000 touches in one evening doing this without having to go outside, travel anywhere, or even put your shoes on.

Switch back and forth from foot to foot, inside/outside, and change directions. Change things up, always staying light on your feet.

If you have access to a yard or while on the soccer field, try different moves that you find on YouTube if you have the space. Just search for “soccer moves” or “soccer dribbling”. Pick the ones you like and master them! I know I stated earlier that you should not get too fancy, but you have to keep it fun! So go ahead and find a move that you enjoy doing it and then you can practice it against your friends when you’ve mastered it. But don’t spend the majority of your time learning 200 different fancy moves, you need to learn the basic ones, and then master them (inside, outside, laces, soles).

If you are sitting down watching TV, have a ball at your feet. Even just pendulums while sitting down will help. Do these while focusing on the television and they will become automatic. If you are talking on the phone, reading, texting, or on twitter, dribble the ball. You don’t need special equipment or a practice field, just dribble around, wherever you are. If you are at your aunt’s birthday party and bored, grab a ball, dribble.

If you live in a place with good weather, go dribble outside. The surface should not matter. You can do this on grass, concrete, tennis courts, gravel, hill, inside the garage, in the shade, under the sun, on the driveway, front or the backyard. Just start dribbling, you don’t even need your shoes on. The point is to get touches on the ball with the inside and outside part of your feet, and practice your moves. All you need is a small space, go find it.

Additional tips about dribbling, these are crucial!

1. Keep the ball close to you and your feet. You will not be able to just kick and run once you start playing against good players. You need to be in control of the ball, if you let it get away, you are no longer in control and it becomes easier for defenders to take it away. This is huge and one of the reasons that many kids stop playing, because they are no longer successful at Kick and Run. I used to be a really fast kid and could outrun everyone, but found it hard to score. Once I learned to dribble with the ball closer to me, I saw a huge difference in scoring opportunities.

2. Once you’ve mastered a football move or touch, try doing it with your head up without looking at the ball. This will give you the ability to received and dribble the soccer ball against pressure. It also gives you the ability to see the field so you can make quicker and better decisions. Once you can do it with your head up and not looking at the ball, increase the speed or add a defender.

3. Change of direction is another critical factor in great dribbling. Remember that once you’ve reached higher levels of club soccer, or pro, there will be very few chances to take off in sprints. The majority of the time is spent under immense pressure in tight spaces. Anytime you are practicing your dribbling, you need to also practice changing directions so that you are prepared to play against high pressing defenses. Changing direction also allows you to turn and attack at the appropriate time, make a perfect pass to a run, or shoot when you have a lane. I will discuss turning in a different post as well, it’s that important. But in order to master turning, you first need control of the ball, and that is done through dribbling (yes I know there are many one touch turns, we’ll cover those later as well).

4. Make sure you use ALL parts of your foot when practicing dribbling skills. That includes the sole, inside, outside, and laces. Go sideways, forwards, and backwards. Change directions as mentioned earlier, go one way then turn, then explode into a quick sprint, and then turn again. You must be under control at all times and you can use any part of your foot to do this.

Implement this program into your kids’ youth soccer player development routine. It’s easy and everyone should be doing it. YOU MUST understand that practicing twice or even three times a week with your travel soccer team is not enough. I don’t care if you are at the highest level or with the greatest coach, YOU MUST practice outside of formal training hours! Even adults who want to get better at soccer can do this and will see results. There is not one single drill or coach out there that will “immediately improve” your soccer dribbling in one day. It takes time and practice. Sorry I have to be honest with you because I want you to get better. You have to put the time in, there is no other way around it. Messi and Ronaldo did not find a secret drill or great coach around them; they just played every day of their lives since they were 2 years old. I’ve interviewed many professionals for the Youth Soccer Evolution Podcast and they all agree that it takes dedication to reach those levels. They also state that they played many hours outside of formal soccer training sessions.

Would you like a demonstration on how you can implement this program into your child’s routine? Email me for instructions as I am working on a step by step video. Ernesto@youthsoccerevolution.com

The post How to Improve Soccer Dribbling Now! appeared first on Youth Soccer Evolution.

Elijah Michaels
wmu.edu

How to Maximize Player Development as a player, parent, coach, and administrator

In Episode 11, we had the pleasure of discussing the development of a young goalie, Elijah Michaels, that I first met when he was around 12 years old. The interview was conducted back in May of 2014 when Elijah was still in High School. Today he is at Western Michigan University plying his trade with the Broncos. I want to thank Elijah and Ann for coming on the show.

Elijah Michaels was still a field player, when I first met him, playing on his Red Arrow SC team coached by his mother, Ann Michaels. Elijah continued having fun playing and developing into one of the best goalkeepers in Michigan. He and his mother took some time to discuss their journey which started back when Elijah was about 5 years old. Elijah is a bright young man as you can tell in the interview and I knew he would have a lot of insight into developing as a young goalkeeper.

Elijah goes into detail about the reason he kept playing soccer and why he still loves it today. He and his mother specifically discuss how they were able to navigate through numerous goalie camps and eventually used the College ID camps to their advantage by getting letters of recommendation from Toni Dicicco! They give us many tips and advice on how to navigate this difficult process and why starting early is critical in today’s world.

Elijah also gives great insight into the mind of a young keeper and how they take games, training sessions, and winning and losing. Why he decided to specialize in High School. Why having a terrible memory is good for goalkeeping.

Ann stated that as a parent, she decided to learn and play the sport herself so that she could help her kids develop. I thought this was a great point, because the sport is not as easy as it looks or as easy as parents may think it is.

I am also working on an ebook to help parents and players navigate through the college recruiting process. If you are interested in a free copy, just let me know.

Links:

Elijah’s WMU bio

http://www.soccerplus.org/ Where Elijah met coach Dicicco

Would you like to connect with Elijah or have any questions for him? He gave his email Elijahmichaels1@gmail.com please contact him.

Unsure about your player development knowledge? Want to make sure you maximize your player development model? Click here for more information. 

The post YSE11: How to navigate College ID camps and play Division I Soccer, with Elijah Michaels appeared first on Youth Soccer Evolution.

Mark knows what it takes to make it in Europe and he shared some of his insights. Additionally Mark shares his visit to Holland and what he learned about player development in the Netherlands. Why the Dutch’s attention to detail and belief in their own system is what separates them from the rest. Why the Dutch have decided to stick to their philosophy and continue developing players. 

Mark was a great guest on the show and we can’t thank him enough for sharing his blueprint on developing players. Get his book to ensure that you are optimizing the development of any player you coach or parent. The book will teach you what the game is about, the stages of learning, and how to improve your technique and mental game. There is also insight into the training and development approach. This book is a great tool for the Player, the Coach, the Parent, and the Club Administrator.

And if you decide to purchase the book, make sure you use our link (or click on the banner above) and Mark has graciously agreed to donate some of the proceeds to the YSE Podcast. Thank you in advance!

“In England it’s a totally different thinking. If you don’t follow that run people will wonder what you’re playing at. The Dutch are thinkers. They think more about the game than we do. We have this idea of the Dutch being very liberal but that’s not really true – it’s an extremely regimented and organised culture and the football is the same. It’s organised to the smallest detail.”

“I had a lot of ideas about football before I went there but it was in Holland that I learnt how to organise them. In that first year I found out so much. Pim Verbeek really took me under his wing. We used to drive all over Holland just watching games to introduce me to the different styles and how teams played. It was a real football education”.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11096/8307015/brits-abroad-mark-burke

If you have a question for Mark or you want to let him know you are a fan of his book or interview, let him know here.

Follow Mark on Twitter https://twitter.com/iammarkburke

on facebook https://www.facebook.com/adifferentkindofsoccer

The post YSE10: A Different Kind of Training and Development with Mark Burke, former Aston Villa player appeared first on Youth Soccer Evolution.

In the fall of 2009 I was asked to coach a U11 Girls team. I had just joined the club and was eager to get started with a young team. This would be a newly formed group. My daughter, who had played recreational soccer for the past 4 years, would also be trying out for the team. I knew this was an opportunity to develop young soccer players who were not thought of as “elite”, since most of the bigger clubs had already taken those players at the U8-U10 years. Youth soccer player development was something I was really getting interested in. I had a few years of coaching under my belt and I wanted to see how and/or if I could develop a group of players using my system.

Tryouts: The tryouts were simple. There were only 9 girls that showed up to tryout. This was a small club so we were not expecting many kids. The part that I enjoyed was that I would not have to cut anyone and all the kids that came out would get the opportunity to play soccer. The team played an 8 v 8 format in the league. So I knew we had to pick up a few extra players from somewhere. Luckily the U12 team in the same club was a very strong team in the area and also had 2 other players that were playing up a division, but were true U11 players. After speaking to the president of the club, it was decided that those two players would be asked to play and “dual-roster” with the U11 team to fill the roster. Out of 11 girls on the team, only 5 kids had experience playing travel soccer, so I knew I had my hands full, but was up for the challenge.

At the 3 v 3 tournament

Practice Begins: Youth soccer player development was a challenge. I had two kids who had been playing at a high level with the older U12 team and they would get frustrated when the rest of the team couldn’t keep up. I realized that the kids lacked technique and I was trying to teach them tactics. Through no fault of their own, the kids had never had specific technical training, and it was obvious. This is an important lesson, you cannot teach tactics until they have good ball control. I modified my training sessions to include 1 to 1 player to ball ratio 60-70% of the time. The rest of the time was split into 1 v 1 moves and 4 v 4 small sided games. The kids were getting tons of touches on the ball every single practice, twice a week. But the reality is that kids don’t practice during the summer months because, according to parents, it’s their “time off” from soccer. The other reality is that the majority of kids don’t play soccer unless it’s structured. So we had about 6 practices before our first game, for a total of about 9 hours of training.

Season Opener: The season opener started with a major defeat, 10-0. The second game, 14-1. I could tell the parents and kids were getting discouraged. The two “dual-roster” players didn’t want to be part of the team anymore. They were used to winning games. I sent out an email to the parents explaining my plan and begging for a chance to work with the kids. I explained to the parents that I was focusing on technique and if they stuck around, the girls would make big improvements, but they had to be patient with me. I also requested that the kids get to the field one hour before the game, to give the kids an extra hour of practice. Parents questioned, “what if the girls are tired by the time the game starts?”. I explained to them that the result of the game didn’t matter, the girls needed one on one time with the ball as much as possible. Surprisingly the parents agreed and followed my lead. They were putting their trust in me to develop their soccer player.

We played the same two teams (that beat us with a combined score of 24-1) towards the end of the season again and lost 5-0 and 4-0, respectively even without the help of the two dual roster players because by that time they were not coming to the games to get beaten. I could tell that the kids had improved from the start to the end of the season. I was overjoyed and sold it to the parents! They bought it, as they should have since it was a major improvement. I was very proud of the kids for working so hard for those 3 months. There had been some significant improvement. We ended the season with a 0-8 record, 48 goals scored against and only 2 goals forced all year long. I was able to keep the team together thanks to very understanding parents.

Here are the results posted on the league website:

Winter 2009-2010: Fortunately for our club we had our own private indoor facility in Michigan. While the rest of the clubs sat at home and played only on the weekends, our team did two training sessions every week and played in an indoor soccer league on the weekend. The team was doing about 15 hours of extra training each month. The training sessions were still mostly technical training, but it was obvious that the players were starting to gain confidence. I taught the girls some street soccer skills, introduced them to futsal, and even brought my computer to show some Messi and Ronaldo videos to the girls for inspiration. I had to make them fall in love with soccer, I knew it was critical that they get inspired by someone or something. They needed to find a passion so that they could start practicing on their own.

The 2010 Spring Season brought the first win to the team, however this was in the B Division. The team finished in the middle of the pack out of 14 teams, in 5th place with a 4-2-2 record. 30 goals forced, 14 goals allowed. We were moving forward and the parents and players were seeing some results.

2010 Fall Season: All of the players came back to tryouts, except for one that was injured. We picked up another 2 recreational players as well. We moved back up to the A Division. This time we finished with a 2-4-2 record, playing the same exact teams that had just wiped the floor with us 12 months ago. Major improvement from the previous year. The girls were getting very confident on the ball and we were starting to work on some tactics. Now they wanted to go to tournaments. I wanted to keep working on development. They saw every other team traveling all over the country for tournaments and camps, I just asked them to keep playing, on their own, with a sibling, or with friends.

Winter 2010-11: Now winter indoor trainings were divided into technical and tactical. The majority of the time we worked on dribbling, possession, and just plain ball control. I also added shooting and some 1 v 1 moves. Defense and Offensive tactics were also taught depending on the day. We also attended a small 3 v 3 tournament where the girls made the Final, but lost to a talented, hand picked, team from Chicago. There was nothing fancy or secretive about it, they just played and played. During indoor games, I prohibited the girls from playing the ball off the wall, while every other team would wait for the ball to bounce back to them. This was not about winning or looking good like the other clubs, I wanted them to develop.

U12 playing vs TKO

Spring 2011 Season: By now the girls were starting to learn tactics and implementing them in the game. In the A Division, the girls finished 3-4-1. This was another step in the right direction. The parents continued to believe in what we were doing and were on board to continue the project. We also attended a tournament at the end of the season where we made the semi-final. Their confidence just kept growing along with their development. The most impressive part was that the team had never recruited a single player and the two best players that had started out with the team had left because they saw no hope for this team. We also kept getting beat by a certain team with very athletic players. I kept reminding the girls that once they learned to have complete control of the ball, they would be able to beat this team. The reason was that these athletic teams with no skill would not be able to keep up and would end up chasing the ball. This team kept winning the league (by U14 they couldn’t win any games).

Tryouts Summer 2011: The transition from U12 to U13 is always very hectic for clubs, teams, players, and parents. The problem is that in U12, each team only needs about 11-13 players, since only 8 play at a time. Once they move to U13, they now play 11 vs 11 and you need about 4-5 substitutes. So every team that existed at U12 must now get an additional 5-6 players. The reality is that some teams will cease to exist after this transition. I knew our team had made an impact around the league because I had parents from different clubs calling me asking if they could get on our team. Unfortunately there were some geographical problems since our club is outside a major metropolitan area. I think the fact that parents were requesting to get on our team was a sign that they respected and recognized the work that had been done by the team, coach, and parents. We came out of tryouts with our core group of 12 players, and added two more, for a total of 14. This was enough to get us through the season.

Fall 2011 Season: By this time, the team had been training for two years together. They were starting to really communicate and play together. They had developed into smart technical players that could play in any system. Additionally, 4 players had been invited to play on Premier level teams. The team finished with combined record of 6-2 and finished tied for 2nd place in Division A. The team scored 17 goals and allowed only 4.

Winter 2011-12: As soon as the season was over at the end of October, we quickly transitioned to indoor training in our private facility. This was a great opportunity to continue with the Youth soccer training and development. The team also played indoor soccer at the local indoor soccer arena. During that session, the team picked up two additional players that wanted to join our team. On two separate occasions, the parents had asked what I was doing to help the team play so well. I explained to the parents that I wasn’t doing anything different and invited them to train with our team so they could see what we do. I didn’t try to sell them on anything or recruit them, I just offered to help. As a matter of fact, I invited their entire team to join us. I had nothing to hide and didn’t really think I was doing anything special. Since we trained indoors anyway, I invited them to train with us anytime they wanted. Both players attended our trainings and decided that they liked what they saw. They soon got along with the rest of the team and they were asked to join us and dual roster. We never asked either one to leave their team, but if they had the time and desire, they could help us.

Additionally that winter I decided to take the next step in the development process and challenge the team by applying to play at the Elite level. I had a parent meeting and explained the reason I felt the kids were ready to play at that level. There were some concerns regarding the costs, travel, and competition. I was able to convince the parents and the team was accepted into the Elite Division. The cost to play was the same, but the travel was a little longer.

Spring 2012 Elite Division: That season the team not only proved that they belonged at the Elite level, but they were also one of the best teams. They ended the season in 3rd place! We also attended a tournament and received 1st place. All this was accomplished with the same core group of 8 girls that went 0-8, just 3 years prior. By this time several of the players were getting frequent requests from bigger clubs, including my daughter. The next Fall 2012, the team won the Elite Division. I stepped down as the coach due to other commitments with my business and coaching.

We started with 8 core players that stayed the entire coarse. They lost every game with 2 “dual rostered” players that were very good.
4 years later, that same core group had already been promoted to Elite league and won the league. The next season, all 8 players were offered spots on Premier teams, 1 went to MRL team.

I tell this story because it’s remarkable. I didn’t do anything special. youth soccer player development is not that difficult, but there are many out there that make it appear as if it was.
This is what I did to improve the youth soccer player development of each player.
1. Created an environment where they could make mistakes without judgement.
2. Taught them that soccer is supposed to be fun and if you are not having fun, you are in the wrong sport
3. Gave them players and teams to look up to (I would tell my fullback, wow that looked like Dani Alves, and she would ask who’s Dani Alves. The next session i would bring a video of Alves). I would show them a move and say, this is how Ronaldo does the scissors, then show them the video.
4. Had year round training sessions, NOT GAMES, just practice where they could make as many mistakes as possible. The practices were so loose and unstructured, that a parent once complained to me about the lack of structure. I told them YES, they are very unstructured and that’s how i plan them. FREE PLAY!
5. I did not allow them to use walls for support during indoor games or training sessions. I introduced them to futsal, even though a few parents didn’t like it, but it helped.
6. I had to rewire their brain and show them that when we are in possession of the ball, EVERYONE is on offense, including the goalkeeper. This was new to them because they were used to getting yelled at when they “left their position”. Now they all interchange positions without even thinking, which in turn improved their communication. It’s great to watch.
7. Worked on technique, but understood that they sometimes master their own technique. some kids pass really well with their outside. Not everyone shoots the same, ask Ronaldo.
8. I encouraged them to be creative and applauded anytime they tried it, whether it worker or not, winning or losing, didn’t matter, creativity was part of the development process. I would use the word “ole” when we did a good move, so much that the girls started using it as well.
9. I communicated with the parents always respecting their opinion on travel, costs, and tournaments, afterall, these were their kids, not mine.

This wasn’t just my doing, the kids also put in tons of hard work. I think they believed in the process a youth soccer player development and bought into it. They did their part by working hard. That’s the trick, is that they have to make it to practice, work on their own, and then it will pay off. It doesn’t matter if you have the greatest soccer coach, if the player is not motivated, forget it.

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