Go Sports Life

By Gordon Miller  Virginia Youth Soccer Association Technical Director
Found Here: http://www.vysa.com/docs/touchline/Final%20January%202008.pdf
Part of www.vysa.com

Some parents believe that their child must play on a winning team in
division 1, all the time, to guarantee automatic success in later years. It does not. They
believe that if their coach isn¹t winning the overwhelming majority of games, they need to
move their child to a "successful" program with a "winning" coach. Some feel
that even if their child isn¹t getting quality playing time, being on a winning
team is what is really important. These parents are doing a great disservice to their
children.

There are more than enough studies that point to the fact that the No. 1
reason why kids drop out of youth sports is there was too much pressure to win. Winning
and pressure are not necessarily bad things, as they force players to compete,
battle and develop a fighting spirit. These are all important ingre dients that are
necessary for success. However, the long-term development of the child is what¹s important
here. And, if the emphasis on winning takes priority, then player growth takes a
back seat. The pressure to get a result should be layered in over time and incorporated
into a positive training and game environment in order to be fully maximized.

We have "game-it is" in our country where we feel the more games of soccer
that we play the better off the player will be. When we go to a tournament, we want
the biggest bang for our buck. Give us four games, five games, six games on the
weekend. We want more games for our money. If playing more and more games
were the answer to development, then the rest of the world would be copying
us. But, they aren¹t. Studies show that in a 90 minute match, the ball is in
play roughly two thirds of the time (on average around 60 minutes). That means that the
rest of the time the ball is out for throw-ins, goal kicks, injuries, etc.  With two
teams on the field, the ball is shared for about 30 minutes each. With 11 players on each
team, the individual player may have accumulated possession of the ball for 2-3
minutes. Strikers normally have it less because they are usually outnumbered in the
attacking line by the opposition¹s defenders. The defenders also have it slightly less
because they are encouraged to play the ball quickly out of the back and not to get
caught in possession. Therefore, if the team is playing game after game and tournament
after tournament, then player development is not exactly being as enhanced as well
as it could be. The games will reveal what the player needs work on, but if errors
are made over and over, without the opportunity to correct them, then the
mistakes can habitualize in the individual.

Trying to coach a player and get him/her to play in a different manner in a
game, is difficult at the best of times. L et me give you an example: the coach
notices that the right fullback is always playing the ball either long into the striker or
wide into the midfielder. He wants him to start carrying the ball a little more and then
passing inside to the central midfielder and thus instructs him to do so from the
sideline. Under the pressure of a match most young players cannot effectively change
the way that they play because they haven¹t done it in training. You can¹t
expect players to change their habits in game situations when they haven¹t been exposed to
them in practice. You train it and then put it back into a game to see if it¹s
working.

Success comes from well-constructed and plentiful training sessions where
players are given repetitions and plenty of encouragement. The training environment
must be one that allows the players to make mistakes without constantly getting
shouted at. Plus, the overwhelming emphasis should be on technical training and
mastery of the ball. There is no tactic or system of play that will cover up the
inability to control the ball well and strike it cleanly. Some coaches are quite simply good
recruiters and think that by putting the best players together they will ensure immediate
and lasting success. If the coach doesn¹t know what he is doing when they come
together, then all is for naught. Does he have the right ratio of training
to games? Does his practice have a lot of technical development and flow to it? Is
there a lot of encouragement and repetition? Or, does he just roll a ball out session after
session where the kids play and he either yells all the time or says nothing at all?
Watch out for the ³used car salesman² that talks a good game and sells winning above
everything else but doesn¹t do anything to develop your child. The coach
must have integrity and character. At the end of the day you want your children to be
taught by people with good hu man quali ties. However, the person must also have
received good coaching education, or at least be open minded to acquiring it. There
is a direct correlation between player development and coach development - it takes
talent to coach talent.

Look for a coach that develops the individual. Make sure your child has fun
in the environment and is enjoying the game itself. Look at the coach¹s preparation
and the qualities of the person in charge of your child. You have a say in your
child¹s development, but you must have a critical eye at who leads it. Take a good
look before you leap. Because success is, indeed, in the detail.