McLean MPS Power U13 Girls Travel Soccer: Importance of Technical Development
Saturday, September 29
The following is an excerpt from Soccer America Magazine, assessing what may be most important in youth soccer – technical development of the player:
‘‘If you see a player who comes from Tahuichi, like Jaime or Marco, they do all of those things well,’’ Payne says. ‘‘You don’t necessarily think of Marco as a header of the ball, but when he’s called on to do that his technique is very sound. Jaime does pretty much everything well.
‘‘American kids don’t do that. Somewhat as a result of that, their tactical approach becomes a little bit stunted. ... All of those things come a little bit from being over-coached in terms of achieving success for their teams and they end up not as sound in terms of playing individually.’’
Payne points out that coaches in charge of foreign pro clubs’ youth programs are not judged on their teams’ scorelines but on how many players they produce for a higher level. That allows them to focus more on developing individual skills.
‘‘In Argentina, their emphasis is very much on developing individual skill,’’ Payne says. ‘‘Virtually every kid you see, it doesn’t matter whether he’s the left back, the center back or the attacking midfielder, they’re all so much more technical than our kids; even though we might actually have kids who are more athletic at that age, the soccer part’s not even close.
‘‘When you talk to the youth development people in Argentina they never tell you, yeah my U-16 team went 10-0, they talk about the development of their individual players.’’
American youth soccer’s paid coaches are often under pressure from the parents who pay them to haul in the trophies.
‘‘I certainly recognize that organized youth soccer is going to continue to play a very significant role in developing players,’’ Payne says. ‘‘We don’t disrespect what those coaches are trying to accomplish, but what we hope to convince them of is that it may be possible to do both: To develop better players and at the same time achieve a winning mentality and success on the field. Let’s do it by playing better soccer.
‘‘I think it’s possible for America’s youth coaches to convince their parents that part what they’re going to do for the money they’re being paid is to make their kids much better players. But today their promise is their team’s going to be successful.’’