THE AUTHORS:
DAVID NEWBERY
For over 20 years David has studied and worked in youth education, soccer development and coaching. A former University Professor and CEO of a Youth Sports Company, he is the Director of Player & Coach Development of SoccerPlus.
TONY DICICCO
Tony is the most successful coach in USA Soccer history, most notably leading the USA Women’s national team to 1996 Olympic, plus 1999 and 2008 World Cup success. He is the Head Coach of the Boston Breakers professional women’s team.
The word ‘revolution’ can be synonymous with such terms as anarchy, chaos and confusion, yet our revolution is encouraging a new approach where players have the opportunity to succeed, and where equal opportunity is not an objective but a reality.
We aim to raise standards and expectations, we challenge the way things have always been done and offer an approach where every player and coach has the opportunity to succeed, continuing to play and love the game by becoming serious about player and coach development.
Player Development is now common in soccer vernacular, yet our research has revealed that only 5% of youth soccer clubs are providing a programme built on firm player development foundations – in short, the phenomenal growth in soccer participation is not being supported by a more sophisticated approach.
The application of a ‘town’ soccer model is prevalent, where the primary objective is having fun. These programs are mainly coached by parent volunteers who have a limited understanding of child development and education, with little or no oversight by a coaching authority.
But parent involvement is the bedrock of youth football, and it cannot be understated the critical influence early youth sport experiences have on a participant’s enjoyment and adoption of physical activity. Simply, we need to get serious about player development.
Every coach and every organisation is unique and the aims, objectives and availability of resources (finance, volunteers, facilities etc) are different. A ‘one size fits all’ solution is clearly not the way forward.
“Soccer needs to get serious about player development.”
However, there are some recommendationswe offer to address common issues:
1. Adopt a Philosophy - The philosophy is critical to the long-term approach and it should guide decision making. For example, if the philosophy includes a ‘competency based approach’ to coaching and player development (something we strongly advocate), regular assessment for all players would need to be a significant part of the learning process. We would encourage coaches to develop and redefine the approach annually. Buy-in is critical, as important for parents and players as it is coaches.
2. Create a long-term strategic plan – Teams lacking long-term direction are set to repeat the same year - every year. Making time to ‘think’ will offer insight to a number of critical questions, including coach education and planning for player development. Creating a three- to five-year strategic plan, which involves parents, coaches and players, will provide the framework to make essential decisions and offer a roadmap for success.
3. Adopt or create a Player Development
Curriculum - In general terms a curriculum consists of everything that promotes intellectual, personal, social and physical development of the participants. And as well as session plans, it includes approaches to teaching, learning and assessment, objectives and program values. A detailed development model will create tremendous value and help in raising standards, performance, and expectations, as well as removing the guesswork.
4. Create an in-house Coaching Education
programme – Without great coaching it is unreasonable to expect meaningful player development. A formal education program for coaches is vital to develop expertise and knowledge. A combination of workshops, presentations, online resources, licensing courses, mentoring, practical coaching and demonstrations are needed to raise the standard of coaching and playing.
5. Provide coaches with access to
coaching resources – There are obvious benefits players will receive from a planned approach to development. Having all coaches accessing developmentally appropriate activities and sessions will create a degree of consistency that sometimes does not exist in volunteer organisations.
6. Provide oversight – a coaching authority – It is essential for bigger teams and organisations to clearly identify a ‘Coaching Authority’. This does not need to be a professional, but should be someone able to dedicate significant time during the season to assist coaches and players during practice sessions and games.
We believe firmly in parent volunteer coaches and non-profit organisations, but local coaching needs to start applying more appropriate strategies that are
relatively simple and cost-effective to implement.
Crucially, if we hope to raise standards and expectations, fun and educational attainment must be mutually inclusive outcomes of participation.
www.soccerplus.org/services
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Soccer America: Youth Insider
Former U-17 coach Roy Rees: USA should be further along
article can be viewed at www.SoccerAmerica.com
By Mike Woitalla
How many players on the U.S. team currently competing at the U-17 World Cup will make a significant impact on the full national team?
Judging from the average of the previous 13 U.S. teams that have competed at each of the biennial world championships since 1985, the answer would be one.
Roy Rees coached the USA at four U-17 World Cups, from 1987 through 1993. He guided the young Americans to historic victories over Brazil in 1989 and Italy in 1991. After the USA, led by Claudio Reyna, beat Brazil, 1-0, in 1989, Brazil’s coach Homero Cavalheiro said, “The United States deserved to win today. They were better as a team; they were better individually.”
Asked how he imagined the future of American soccer two decades ago, Rees says, “I would have expected it to be further along than it is now. They've done well but could have done much better.
"They have developed a whole bunch of very average players but not the great players you need to get that little bit extra. There's a lack of creative players."
Mike Burns and John O'Brien, who played for Rees in the 1987 and 1993 tournaments, were also among the U-17 alums who had the most success with the full national team.
Rees was succeeded by Glenn Myernick (1995), Jay Miller (1997), John Ellinger (1999, 2001, 2003), John Hackworth (2005, 2007) and Wilmer Cabrera (2009, 2011).
Ellinger's 1999 team, which was the first that went into full-time residency in Bradenton, Fla., finished fourth and remains the only squad to win a knockout stage game. It included Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley, Oguchi Onyewu and Bobby Convey. That class proved to be an aberration.
Miller’s 1997 squad included Taylor Twellman and Danny Califf, who went on to long pro careers but had limited success with the full national team. Ellinger’s 2001 and 2003 squads included Eddie Johnson and Jonathan Spector, respectively.
Hackworth’s 2005 team included Jozy Altidore and Neven Subotic, now one of the top defenders in the German Bundesliga, but he plays his national team ball for Serbia.
Rees, a Welshman who served as an English FA staff coach and worked for FIFA as an international coaching instructor before taking over the U.S. U-17s, cites many reasons why the USA hasn't made more profound progress in producing exceptional players. Topping the list is an emphasis on athleticism rather than on skill and understanding the game.
"America had the reputation of being better athletically than everyone else, because at the Olympics they ran faster, were stronger, and threw things farther,” he says. “Those are things that have nothing to do with soccer. At the youth level, big, strong and physical may win games. But the smaller players develop skills to combat the big and the physical, and when they get the growth they’re the ones who get the results."
He also warns of the perils of advocating an orthodox approach to player development:
"It was, 'Coach this way, or get out.' There are different ways of developing players, which is obvious when you see how great players have emerged from different countries."
He says that the insight into the game that great players acquire is something that they develop naturally when they're young, not from being told how to play, but by being given the freedom figure the game out.
“What matters is being able to perceive the game, to predict what happens next," says Rees. "They need to be placed in a situation where they can see it for themselves rather than having it laid out for them. That needs to happen at the youngest levels. They need to be allowed to express themselves and not be tied to the coach’s instructions, or they’ll play like robots.”
Now retired and living in Southern California, Rees is watching this U.S. U-17 team on TV. Not judging it by the scorelines, but whether there are within the group some players with that little bit extra that hints of greatness.
* * * *
The USA opened its U-17 World Cup campaign with a 3-0 win over the Czech Republic on Sunday with goals by Alejandro Guido and Esteban Rodriguez and late sub Alfred Koroma. In their second Group D game, the Americans face Uzbekistan on Wednesday (4 pm ET, Galavision, ESPN3.com).
Uzbekistan lost its opener, 4-1, to New Zealand, which got a hat trick by Stephen Carmichael. Carmichael, making his first start for the Kiwis, hadn’t been part of the squad during qualifying nor for a pre-tournament tour to Qatar.
Go HERE for U-17 World Cup results and schedule.
(Mike Woitalla, the executive editor of Soccer America, coaches youth soccer for East Bay United in Oakland, Calif. His youth soccer articles are archived at YouthSoccerFun.com.)
article can be viewed at www.SoccerAmerica.com
By Mike Woitalla
How many players on the U.S. team currently competing at the U-17 World Cup will make a significant impact on the full national team?
Judging from the average of the previous 13 U.S. teams that have competed at each of the biennial world championships since 1985, the answer would be one.
Roy Rees coached the USA at four U-17 World Cups, from 1987 through 1993. He guided the young Americans to historic victories over Brazil in 1989 and Italy in 1991. After the USA, led by Claudio Reyna, beat Brazil, 1-0, in 1989, Brazil’s coach Homero Cavalheiro said, “The United States deserved to win today. They were better as a team; they were better individually.”
Asked how he imagined the future of American soccer two decades ago, Rees says, “I would have expected it to be further along than it is now. They've done well but could have done much better.
"They have developed a whole bunch of very average players but not the great players you need to get that little bit extra. There's a lack of creative players."
Mike Burns and John O'Brien, who played for Rees in the 1987 and 1993 tournaments, were also among the U-17 alums who had the most success with the full national team.Rees was succeeded by Glenn Myernick (1995), Jay Miller (1997), John Ellinger (1999, 2001, 2003), John Hackworth (2005, 2007) and Wilmer Cabrera (2009, 2011).
Ellinger's 1999 team, which was the first that went into full-time residency in Bradenton, Fla., finished fourth and remains the only squad to win a knockout stage game. It included Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley, Oguchi Onyewu and Bobby Convey. That class proved to be an aberration.
Miller’s 1997 squad included Taylor Twellman and Danny Califf, who went on to long pro careers but had limited success with the full national team. Ellinger’s 2001 and 2003 squads included Eddie Johnson and Jonathan Spector, respectively.
Hackworth’s 2005 team included Jozy Altidore and Neven Subotic, now one of the top defenders in the German Bundesliga, but he plays his national team ball for Serbia.
Rees, a Welshman who served as an English FA staff coach and worked for FIFA as an international coaching instructor before taking over the U.S. U-17s, cites many reasons why the USA hasn't made more profound progress in producing exceptional players. Topping the list is an emphasis on athleticism rather than on skill and understanding the game.
"America had the reputation of being better athletically than everyone else, because at the Olympics they ran faster, were stronger, and threw things farther,” he says. “Those are things that have nothing to do with soccer. At the youth level, big, strong and physical may win games. But the smaller players develop skills to combat the big and the physical, and when they get the growth they’re the ones who get the results."
He also warns of the perils of advocating an orthodox approach to player development:
"It was, 'Coach this way, or get out.' There are different ways of developing players, which is obvious when you see how great players have emerged from different countries."
He says that the insight into the game that great players acquire is something that they develop naturally when they're young, not from being told how to play, but by being given the freedom figure the game out.
“What matters is being able to perceive the game, to predict what happens next," says Rees. "They need to be placed in a situation where they can see it for themselves rather than having it laid out for them. That needs to happen at the youngest levels. They need to be allowed to express themselves and not be tied to the coach’s instructions, or they’ll play like robots.”
Now retired and living in Southern California, Rees is watching this U.S. U-17 team on TV. Not judging it by the scorelines, but whether there are within the group some players with that little bit extra that hints of greatness.
* * * *
The USA opened its U-17 World Cup campaign with a 3-0 win over the Czech Republic on Sunday with goals by Alejandro Guido and Esteban Rodriguez and late sub Alfred Koroma. In their second Group D game, the Americans face Uzbekistan on Wednesday (4 pm ET, Galavision, ESPN3.com). Uzbekistan lost its opener, 4-1, to New Zealand, which got a hat trick by Stephen Carmichael. Carmichael, making his first start for the Kiwis, hadn’t been part of the squad during qualifying nor for a pre-tournament tour to Qatar.
Go HERE for U-17 World Cup results and schedule.
(Mike Woitalla, the executive editor of Soccer America, coaches youth soccer for East Bay United in Oakland, Calif. His youth soccer articles are archived at YouthSoccerFun.com.)
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