A couple days ago was 3four3’s first birthday!
We averaged roughly one post per week – this is post #62. Thank you so much to all our readers who give us an audience. Believe it or not, you guys are helping to raise the level of US Soccer, which is the very reason for this blog.
The primary method by which this mission can be accomplished is education. Without it, we are all flying blind. Without it, we are all led astray by the logic we apply to incomplete knowledge and understanding.
And as someone with an interest in soccer, the conclusions you draw have a direct impact on your decisions as a player, a parent, a coach, a manager, a fan, etc …
Do You Remember?
Team A beat Team B
Team B beat Team C
Therefore …
Team A will beat Team C
Sound familiar? Of course it does. We’ve all done it!
I think we all understand this strict mathematical logic does not apply. And yet we still fall into this trap – myself included. The above example is trivial, but what happens with the infinite other possibilities? How about:
Player A is on a prestigious club.
Player B, not so much.
Therefore,
Player A > Player B
Again a fairly trivial case, but I’ve seen this applied quite often as a virtual be all end all.
Alright, alright. Being more realistic, you will have a fuzzy feeling about probabilities of the statements being true. That is, there is a 80% chance that Team A will beat Team C, or Player A > Player B.
When it comes to this, the key is judgement. And how good your judgment is, is a function of your experience, knowledge base, and the core principles you hold to be true. These things are thrown into your bag, shuffled around, and a conclusion pops out.
The Mission
Our mission is to share our soccer experience, knowledge, and core principles, so that you can include them in your judgment arsenal.
I want you to be capable of judging better than you currently can:
- a player’s development
- a team’s level
- a coach’s capacity
- etc …
Just saying US Soccer, Bob Bradley, or your youth team is a disaster does nothing for our mission. We want to provide you the tools and understanding so that you can see it for yourself. It is only then, when we all can clearly identify the problems, that a significant step forward can be taken.
It is for this reason the better part of our posts have been about articulating the issues in a [hopefully] much different light. But we have a long way to go!
What would you like us to write about next? Do you have any ideas you’d like to share?
Do you have a similar mission? Maybe we can partner up!
Contact us or comment below with anything that’s on your mind.
Most Importantly
Thank you for your continued support! This next year will be exciting!
Leave a Reply