“It’s just a game”. No, it’s not. It’s an economic market like any other. There are businesses in play, livelihoods at stake, communities to consider, and consumers that should be looked after. This is an ecosystem with real people, with real consequences, who depend on responsible governance. Clubs (independent businesses) get affected. People working with […]
Problems
Should Coaches be Siloed in Specific Age Groups? Part 2
Part 1 touched on why it makes more sense elsewhere in the world. Here in Part 2, we look at some incentives and consequences for instituting coach siloing in the American environment. An Organizational Perspective Looking at a club perspective there’s this sense that efficiencies are introduced, that it’s just simpler to have a conventional […]
Not Allowed in American Soccer – Leicester City FC
I think we can agree that fulfillment of potential is something we all yearn for. But what if the path to fulfillment is taken away from you? What then? Well, compared to the rest of the world, American soccer is set up precisely to do this. Limit, or even take away, one’s potential. Whether you […]
American Soccer can Be the Global Superpower if …
Well, the discussion has been raging for 100 years. And yes, American soccer has a century’s worth of rich history. But unfortunately most of the mainstream discussions have been superficial. Deep dives are few and rarely, if ever, come from mainstream media outlets. That’s simply not their mission. But it is ours. We want to […]
Jurgen Klinsmann and Leadership: Let’s Get Raw & Real
The following was submitted to 3four3. It does well at hitting the mark. Landon Donovan is painfully shallow and naïve calling for Jurgen Klinsmann’s firing if USMNT loses to Mexico in upcoming CONCACAF matchup. Firing Jurgen is akin to cutting off your nose to spite your face. Despite a player pool and youth pipeline chock-full […]
Pay to Play and the Link to Promotion Relegation
First, let’s get something straight. Pay to play will always exist because there will always be a demand for such services. Not to mention services and infrastructure are not free, and so must have a business model supporting the expenses. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s properly contextualize. Pay to play […]
The Best Coaching Advice You’ll Ever Get, and Probably Ignore
Go master how to properly train 10 different rondos. Stop making forays into exotic topics like ‘guided discovery’ or some academic neurological studies on learning. Stop it with the hundreds of sport session planner diagrams, and your buffet of drills. Stop it with buying a new soccer book every week, thinking somehow your art will […]
[Podcast] What’s Wrong with American Soccer?
Listen in below, as John Pranjic does a great job of hosting a discussion on topics ranging from how and why 3four3 got started, to where we are now, to where we’re going. And of course the biggest problem with American soccer – a system that limits our market’s potential, disincentivizes investments, alienates the majority […]
How NOT to Coach Playing out of the Back
It’s like everywhere I look in American soccer media, and to quite an extent, the English as well, the advice being thrown around on player development is the worst thing you can follow. The inspiration for this article came from Twitter via a coach posting the following activity he runs (& recommends). I saw the […]
What Coaches Can Learn from Louis van Gaal’s Recent Statement
Newly appointed Manchester United coach, Louis van Gaal, recently stated it’ll take him at least 3 months to get his team to start executing the way he wants to play. 3 months! And he’s got a whole staff behind him working around the clock. 3 months! And he’s got all international level players. 3 months! And the […]