The perception and values associated with the practice of recruiting depends on who’s doing the perceiving and the act itself – be it an organization, coach, player, parent, or whoever. This post will take the position of what every interested party supposedly wants. Development and a meritocracy. Right? Recruiting If the goal is to develop […]
5 Simple Words Stagnating Your Soccer Development
If you want to get closer to excellence you must eliminate the following from your vocabulary: Pace Unlucky Target [forward] Obviously [I, You, They, He, She, We] Deserve it These are the words of the status quo. They make you focus on the superficial, excuse you from responsibility, and brainwash you into the philosophy of […]
The 3 Main Cultures Influencing Soccer Development
They are one macro-culture and two micro-cultures. Big organizations The household The team Macro Culture This refers to the culture driven by large scale organizations. The most obvious are state governments. They dominate the rhetoric, implement policy, and execute the law. Neglecting the minority, these things combined funnel the worldviews and value systems of an entire […]
US Soccer Development Academy Coach Threatens Friendship
What follows was a text from the head academy coach at a US Soccer Development Academy club who we’ve known for … I don’t know … around six years. I won’t say who it is or when this happened, but it gives you insight as to the types of things that go on. Dear Brian, […]
Attacking The Different, the Unique
You need to grow up … too grown up, and you’re no fun. You need to show some class … too much class, and you’re a snob. You’re filthy rich … too little money, and you’re a loser. You’re an academic dropout … too much academics, and you’ve got no real world experience. … ad […]
Staged Positional Training Commences
June 16 marked the beginning of our position-focused training sessions. Of course most sessions we run have positional play development going on. But this is different with respect to focus, and magnitude. What I’m talking about here is segregating the players by time. It’s not uncommon for the pros to do this (ie defense shows […]
Lets Build Serious Clubs
Meaning, go well beyond being an organization that just houses soccer teams. Compliment that by offering a membership with real benefits. Here’s some things to consider: Voting rights Club hosted parties and activities A gym Field access Multiple sports Real city / neighborhood connection / outreach / integration Real business partnerships and integration Real school […]
The American Soccer Community Hates Spain
Maybe not the individuals … or maybe so (think of all the shit that’s said about Busquets). But moreso, it’s what they represent. They have been exposing all of American soccer shortcomings and fallacies in a way that’s unprecedented. What they’ve been doing has gone against what the American rhetoric has been for decades. They […]
Recognize Speed of Play Issues [Video]
… and work on them. These are our U11s during a friendly over a month ago – versus San Diego Surf. Be Careful The interpretation of speed of play in general can be dangerous. We have to be careful here. One of the biggest problems with US Soccer at all levels is that we have […]
The Amazing Irony of the ‘Culture Problem’
There’s lots of American soccer: media outlets coaches fans / supporters organizations … In general, there’s a huge American soccer community. And all its constituents cite that the game in this country suffers from a culture problem. The irony is not only are they participants in the culture problem, but they actually work hard to […]