This is my response to reader John, who left an excellent set of comments. The last of which I’ll address here. Specifically: I’d love to see you talk about specific tactics, Gary. I have no doubt that you are very a bright guy, but I wish you’d share your knowledge with us. Tell us about [...]
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Oh how everyone talks as if they know what “development” is, and how to do it. Sigh … Let’s talk a little bit about “playing up” and whether it helps or not. This weekend our U11′s are going to play in a U12 tournament. This isn’t the first time competing up either. The last was [...]
Tweet“We’ve made good progress in the last 20 years.” Yes we have, and we should all be happy for it. However, it’s easier going from 40% to 70%, than it is from 70% to 100%. The first jump involves broad strokes. You know, the “common sense” stuff. The second jump involves the details. You know, [...]
TweetWe have several recently turned 20 year-olds from our first ever boys team that have true professional-level quality. Years ago, I predicted with 100% certainty that one kid in particular would go all the way. I actually have standing bets with people on this (most notable are $500 on one, and a lobster dinner every [...]
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I don’t know if real accountability for player development is possible. What are the metrics? Is it how many players you place in college? Is it the number that get called to youth national teams? Is it the number of professionals you’ve touched while they were amateur? Certainly these things are important. But we need [...]
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How do you know a coach is any good at player development? I’m specifically addressing those coaches who are implicitly chartered with that goal. Well, here it is: 1) The coach must have a clearly possession based style. 2) The coach must be a winning one. METRIC #1 (possession) First and foremost, if the coach is not [...]
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Ben Lederman, a U-11, has been invited to join FC Barcelona’s youth Academy! This will go down as a mark in US Soccer history! He started his trial with the famed academy Monday, April 11, and just 4 training sessions later, the Director of all 7 v 7 at the club, Andres Carrasco, had made [...]
TweetA general outline not meant to capture exceptions: 1) Be obsessed with the game. 2) Put in your 10,000 hours. 3) Have coaches for many years at the youth level that can polish you. 4) Debut professionally as a teenager. Again, with a coach that has a clue. 5) Get transferred to a “big club”, [...]
TweetThis is a nicely done short film. And when viewed through the lens of player development … well you figure it out.
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There can be no player development factory without monetary incentive. First let me be clear; without competent coaches, all the money in the world will not develop a quality player. So assuming there’s a capable coach, what makes you think he will do everything in his power to develop his pupils? And I assure you, that’s [...]
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