With the thought of a World Cup in two years and all the elite soccer recently on TV with both the Euros and Copa America, now seems like a suitable time to discuss why we are failing our elite players. All players within the talent spectrum deserve to have the best possible environment in which both fall in love with the game and fulfill their potential. This specific discussion is based on the elite portion of the game.
To try and build this in a logical manner, I will build it from the bottom up at least in terms of age and stage.
Imagine a young player whose name is Paul.
- Too often Paul is placed on a field that is too big with a large number of players on the field, which means few touches often guided by a coach who has no real knowledge of how best to develop 6- and 7-year-olds. All clubs need to do a much better job of helping develop coaches who work in the younger age groups and play more 3v3 than 6v6.
- At age eight, Paul is told it is time to make a competitive move and he must choose to try out for travel or basically stop playing. The insane drive to overly competitive travel soccer and win at all costs mentality ultimately hurts player development.
- If by some luck, Paul manages to develop through his first two travel years, then the battle of the elite player platforms begins. He is likely to be recruited to Premier, Elite, EDP, ECNL, Academy, MLS Next, Select and ODP. With our most promising players cast over so many platforms, our young players with the most potential seldom get to play together. It is a truth that for players to truly develop, the challenge provided by other players at a similar level is vital.
- More time traveling than playing and fun leaves the building. A consequence of all the platforms above is the fact that it soon becomes a situation at 10-12 years where players must travel 3-4 hours to play a 60-minute game. How does this make sense?
- By now, other coaches from other sports have identified Paul as an athlete so cross-sport recruitment is in overdrive. The phone never stops ringing as the lax coach, the basketball coach and, of course, the pickleball coach want their team to excel as well. Kids need rest and the multisport mania does not allow this.
- Somehow, Paul survives all the above so the next challenge that is thrown up is the ever-increasing demand of Middle and High School soccer programs. Designed to be incredibly intense with a number of practices and games in a short period of time, that is way beyond safe, often with a coach who has limited knowledge of the game and training principles to keep the environment productive. School seasons must respect periodization and should be required to have minimum coaching licenses.
- If by some miracle, Paul manages to survive High School and still has the desire to play, he goes to College where all the above are repeated. A brief and exhaustive season that leaves college coaches with little chance to consider player development.
- Post-College, Paul is recruited to MLS. A league with no relegation or promotion! Challenge and competition are key ingredients of elite player development even at this level.
We have some work to do if we are ever going to create world-class soccer players on a consistent basis so that both our men’s and women’s programs can regularly compete in the world’s major tournaments.
