Recent Article in Success in Soccer Magazine

I read the following article in Success in Magazine. It is always nice to know that even the most well funded, and most experienced clubs/programs have similar ongoing issues that Infinity SC and other clubs in Utah have. I have highlighted things that seem to be issues in nearly every club I've ever encountered.

The evolution of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy

Part 3: The road ahead: Combating threats to youth development
by Pat Johnston, Success in Soccer contributing writer

The U.S. Soccer Development Academy can only be labeled a success to date. In trading its originally passive role for a much more proactive one, U.S. Soccer has done a excellent job of getting its objectives across. One of its biggest accomplishments has been to rein in the over scheduling rampant in American youth soccer, making each game meaningful and providing elite players with true challenges. Another advance has been to create greater player movement within dubs, which has made it possible for club directors to control player development with much greater precision.

These are just the highlights of what the Academy's curriculum has achieved for U.S. players and their coaches and clubs. Other benefits that are a direct by product of its involvement in the scene include more routine scouting by college and professional coaches, training regimens prescribed and monitored by the best U.S. coaches, enhanced instruction and assessment provided by corporate sponsors, and the list goes on. Meanwhile, despite high Iy selective criteria for entry, the Academy has undergone impressive growth, adding 16 new clubs to its initial roster of 63 clubs plus the U.S. Residency Program. (For more details on the Academy's creation and evolution, see SIS 4/09 and 5/09.)

Future Challenges

In the previous issue, we discussed some of the obstacles the Academy now faces, such as the costs associated with registration, professional coaching, travel, etc., and the geographical challenges posed by running a nationwide league in a nation as large as the U.S. While these issues have not yet been totally resolved, the progress that has been made on them so far has been extremely encouraging. However, these are all comparatively straight forward problems based on controllable factors, making it relatively easy for Academy personnel to conceive and execute a plan to remedy them.

U.S. Soccer's efforts have given elite youth players the opportunity to play in more meaningful matches.

The human element, on the other hand, is a complex issue that will require exceptional patience and attention on an ongoing basis. In the history of soccer there have already been many clubs and organizations that have put development-based curriculums in place, and all too often these curriculums have gone by the wayside to satisfy people who lacked an understanding of the bigger picture: parents, coaches and/or board members who valued the result above all else, even though they professed to be proponents of player development. Not surprisingly, this type of hypocritical behavior is just as much a problem for the Academy as it is for every other soccer organization. The Academy has already revoked the membership of one club to date, and several others are under review for failing to adhere to the philosophies and practices that were outlined to them as requirements when they were accepted as participants. To realize the Academy's ambition of player development, all those responsible for executing its philosophies and principles must adhere to the spirit of the charter. While it is always necessary to play to win from the standpoint of attitude, tactics may not necessarily be what is best for the result. Truly embracing player development means setting aside ego and doing what is best for the players in the long run.

No one is immune

The failure to follow through on player development is not limited to anyone club, league or even country-for example, Neil Bath of Chelsea's Academy says that he has witnessed it within his league, and I can confirm his statement from personal experience. Having witnessed one of England's "big four" academies from the inside and in competition, I can unequivocally say that coaches, even at the elite level, do not always practice what they preach. On a crisp Sunday morning in April, I watched a match between a pair of U9 academy teams from the English Premier League, and what I saw was extremely disappointing. These youngsters-some of England's best simply hoofed the ball every time it came to their feet. And to make matters worse, there was no instruction from the sidelines to do otherwise.

Winning a championship is always a great accomplishment, but youth coaches, players and parents need to remember that development comes first!

Why was this happening? The answer is simple: The safe and direct path to the opponent's net was the easiest way to extract the desired match result from the day's competition. I had visited the same academy in February and heard the directors describe their ambition of making these players "artisans," but now it seemed that everything I had heard was mere lip service. When I moved to the next field, I was able to watch the U11s doing exactly the same thing. Ironically enough, at the conclusion of that match I overheard the losing coach tell his comrades that his side had lost because the winning side had "forsaken all semblance of development"! I couldn't help laughing, because as I watched the game, his side was matching the opposition hoof for hoof. But of course, it was convenient for him to blame the result on his opponents' deviation from the guiding philosophical principle of player development. Why was he discussing the result and apologizing for it, anyway? Why not talk about what his team did right and what they needed to improve on? So much for Howard Wilkinson's Charter of Quality and its influence on the development of the young English player. Here were two of England's foremost representatives of what player development should be, and they were being compromised before my very eyes.

Of course, that was just one day on the pitch, and I have no real way of knowing whether it was a typical one. My experience of hypocrisy in U.5. youth soccer, on the other hand, is much more extensive. Having spent five years coaching at a club that was recently accepted into the Academy, I have seen firsthand some of the insidious practices affecting youth soccer and the reasons behind them. One reason is that ego-driven coaches and parents are running clubs and compromising player development. They portray themselves as dedicated to the improvement of the player-all players-but in fact they are primarily concerned with results. And often their directors of coaching do not have the courage or the wherewithal to right the ship: Because their livelihoods are at stake, they have little choice but to acquiesce to a self-serving board of directors whose only interest is the success of their children's team.

Too many coaches are too dependent on the income they earn from coaching at the youth soccer level. And the perception of failure is too often associated with wins and losses. So when faced with the decision to either play it safe and kick it down the field or take the risk of putting players under pressure in their own half, a coach who's worried about the result will be inclined to take the safer path. Unfortunately, I have never seen a player improve by watching the ball sail over his head and into the opposition's half of the field. Another tactic often employed is to "soften" the schedule, skewing the results in a way that improves the ratio of wins to losses. Naturally, not having to compete game in and game out will result in a better record, but it won't facilitate an environment in which players are required to excel. These are just some examples from my personal experience as a coach. Of course the Academy is aware of this problem and has taken significant steps to remedy it, but its reach only extends so far. Will it be far enough? Only those personnel directly involved in the handling of the Academy's teams can truly say.

In conclusion

The U.5. Development Academy has made a significant impact on the elite of American youth soccer in a very brief period of time. In two years they have established the Academy as the primary pipeline through which America's best young players will travel to reach the next level.

Though it does not have all the answers, U.5. Soccer has succeeded in creating a vehicle that appeals to the group it is seeking to influence and monitor: emerging talent. It has established a league and a curriculum in which the best U.S. clubs seek to be involved, and it has created a culture that has the potential to directly influence the evolution and well being of the sport across the entire nation. The Academy's founders and current members are now in a position to help capable American players compete in domestic and international leagues at a level undreamed of just a few years ago.

While U.S. Soccer still has many hurdles to overcome in its quest to be among the world's elite, ultimately nothing it does will have any effect if it fails to deliver on its stated intentions. Academy staff need to educate and communicate to all concerned what the final product is supposed to be: not a one-dimensional decorated winner of medals who can only play right back for Soccer Club FC, but a player capable of lacing them up and performing comfortably on any pitch. And then, most importantly of all, the clubs need to actively work toward the realization of this objective- then, and only then, will the efforts of John Hackworth, Tony Lepore and all their colleagues at the Academy be realized.