Anson Dorrance and Tony DiCicco call for reform

Article from: Top Drawer Soccer Exact Link: http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/component/option,com_topdrawer/Itemid,251/nid,7584/  Written by ESNN (Elite Soccer News Network) January 16, 2009 ST. LOUIS – Two of the brightest lights in American soccer coaching spoke very plainly here Thursday about the need to reform player development in Women's soccer. North Carolina head coach Anson Dorrance and Boston Breakers and former U.S. WNT coach Tony DiCicco both called for USSF to create a system along the lines of the Developmental Academy currently in place on the boys side. The remarks were made at the NSCAA Convention. "Success can be misleading," said the notes on Dorrance's overhead slide. "Make no mistake, we are losing ground to the rest of the world." Anson Dorrance "Our players aren't technical enough," DiCicco said, even as he discussed the world championship earned last month by the U.S. U20 WNT he was coaching in Chile. "Youth soccer is a big business and if you win more it brings dollars to your club, but there are too many things we don't do well enough if we want to keep winning." The two coaches said they had discussed the issues Wednesday night with USSF President Sunil Gulati and Secretary-General Dan Flynn, but emphasized the comments were there own, and not those of the Federation. It is believed USSF is contemplating the establishment of a Girls Academy system similar to that in place on the boys side. Dorrance, winner of 20 national titles at North Carolina, said an Academy League of approximately 40 teams would be welcome, with a defined season calendar that would limit matches per season to somewhere around 40. He called for such an Academy to feature targeted training opportunities for teams in conjunction with Women's Professional Soccer. Other possibilities include regional and sub-regional player for younger age groups, with ODP continuing to exist outside the Academy. Dorrance also said it would be wise to avoid making "too many changes right out of the gate" and added that high school would be the exception to the rule when it came to the forbidding of dual rostering. He also said USSF would have to have an enforcement mechanism to promote and relegate clubs based on their development performance every two or three years. DiCicco, winner of the 1999 World Cup with the Women's National Team, said the days where U.S. squads can use high pressure tactics as an equalizer against the rest of the world are coming to an end as nations like Japan continue to improve their technical and tactical prowess. He also scored the American player for not "seeing the game" well enough, noting "that is our fault as coaches." He reserved his harshest criticism for the technical side. "We do not receive the ball well. We can't play at the speed needed if we have to take that much time to receive and turn," he said. "The German and Chinese player will be moving away from traffic with the ball while we're still battling for possession. We don't drive the ball well and we don't head the ball well enough. We need to start improving our technique from the younger ages." Dorrance said he hopes the NSCAA Convention will be a prime venue for discussion and evaluation of any such move toward a national academy.