English Clubs developing US youth players

[Captain Fulhamerica]

As a youth coach in the States for some time now I could write for days on this topic, but I'd like to share a few things I think are holding US youth player development back:

- Youth clubs and leagues are far too unstable and disjointed - Leagues and clubs in the US spring up and disappear so fast it makes your head spin, which makes progression for players more difficult and confuses parents.  Also, since most youth clubs don't have a senior team, kids don't have players to look up to or an obvious end goal for their development.

- High school soccer drastically slows player development - I can't tell you how many players have been developed at my club, only to see them thrown in to high school soccer too young (14/15 year olds).  The high school game is physical but unskilled in most places.  Kids get thrown into this environment were speed, power, and winning come before technical development.

- Kids in the US have too many sports prying them away from soccer - When you coach kids 9-14, it's a constant struggle to keep them focused on soccer.  A lot of this has to do with parents who know other sports better and push their kids toward those sports.  

[love4ffc]

As a youth coach in the States for some time now I could write for days on this topic, but I'd like to share a few things I think are holding US youth player development back:

- Youth clubs and leagues are far too unstable and disjointed - Leagues and clubs in the US spring up and disappear so fast it makes your head spin, which makes progression for players more difficult and confuses parents.  Also, since most youth clubs don't have a senior team, kids don't have players to look up to or an obvious end goal for their development.

- High school soccer drastically slows player development - I can't tell you how many players have been developed at my club, only to see them thrown in to high school soccer too young (14/15 year olds).  The high school game is physical but unskilled in most places.  Kids get thrown into this environment were speed, power, and winning come before technical development.

- Kids in the US have too many sports prying them away from soccer - When you coach kids 9-14, it's a constant struggle to keep them focused on soccer.  A lot of this has to do with parents who know other sports better and push their kids toward those sports. 

I agree on the last part of too many sports prying kids away from soccer.  As for clubs raising and falling apart I've not seen that personally.  I've seen clubs merge with another to become stronger and bigger, but not just fall apart.  I have actually seen an increase in small rural communities starting their own new clubs.  As for not having senior teams to look up to.  I'm going to guess that is an issue for your particular location. 

I am currently not coaching for a club due to relocating (again) with the family.  However I do still fill in for a local club and coach for a middle school.  I have coached for 5 clubs in three different states on the east coast since I started coaching.  I have helped coach a JV team and have coached three middle school teams.  Three times now I have changed clubs due to relocating with the family.  Twice I changed clubs for more money and responsibilities.   In two of the cities I coached not only did the clubs I was working for have senior teams, that went all the way through U20, but they have working relationships with major ACC college teams.  They have lots of opportunities and events for the kids to play with the older kids, college kids and coaches. 

The middle school I deal with is a private school that has a great structure in place for their soccer teams.  Both the boys and the girls have a separate director that works with the individual middle school, JV & varsity teams.  Every other week the directors get all three levels of players together and we play 6v6 mixed teams of all ages world cup.  The kids love it. 

I am sorry it seems so many of you have bad infrastructure and/or clubs where you live.  I personally have not seen nor experienced any of what you are talking about.  Again from my perspective, and this includes both playing and coaching combined now for over 40 years, soccer in the US is stronger then ever. 

[Captain Fulhamerica]

I agree on the last part of too many sports prying kids away from soccer.  As for clubs raising and falling apart I've not seen that personally.  I've seen clubs merge with another to become stronger and bigger, but not just fall apart.  I have actually seen an increase in small rural communities starting their own new clubs.  As for not having senior teams to look up to.  I'm going to guess that is an issue for your particular location. 

I am currently not coaching for a club due to relocating (again) with the family.  However I do still fill in for a local club and coach for a middle school.  I have coached for 5 clubs in three different states on the east coast since I started coaching.  I have helped coach a JV team and have coached three middle school teams.  Three times now I have changed clubs due to relocating with the family.  Twice I changed clubs for more money and responsibilities.   In two of the cities I coached not only did the clubs I was working for have senior teams, that went all the way through U20, but they have working relationships with major ACC college teams.  They have lots of opportunities and events for the kids to play with the older kids, college kids and coaches. 

The middle school I deal with is a private school that has a great structure in place for their soccer teams.  Both the boys and the girls have a separate director that works with the individual middle school, JV & varsity teams.  Every other week the directors get all three levels of players together and we play 6v6 mixed teams of all ages world cup.  The kids love it. 

I am sorry it seems so many of you have bad infrastructure and/or clubs where you live.  I personally have not seen nor experienced any of what you are talking about.  Again from my perspective, and this includes both playing and coaching combined now for over 40 years, soccer in the US is stronger then ever. 

Interesting stuff.  I've coached mostly in a quasi-rural part of Illinois, were club teams general don't exceed U18.  There are some U23 sides for college players during the summer, but no senior teams in the European sense. 

Another thing I forgot to mention, and this is really the thing that holds soccer back the most, is the cost to players and their families (Jurgen Klinsmann loves this topic).  Much of US youth soccer uses a "pay-to-play" model.  Meaning your kid doesn't get on the team unless you pay club dues.  It's an unfortunate setup, but most of these clubs simply have no other way of funding coaches, travel, equipment, etc.  This means cost can be a barrier for kids from lower economic backgrounds.  As a result, soccer players in the US tend to come from more affluent backgrounds compared to Europe and South America. 

Jurgen's theory is that this system eliminates the hungriest players from the sport at a young age, players that have a passion for success in the sport so they can improve their economic situation.  The opportunity to improve your life through sports just isn't as accessible in soccer as it is in American football or basketball.

[love4ffc]

MJs Statue  - I would completely agree that soccer in the States is an affluent sport.  The last two clubs that I have worked with have actively tried to change that.  Both do a couple of different kinds of fundraisers to give low income kids scholarships.  Both clubs hold golf tournamants and 5K races were the proceeds went to the scholarship funds.  On top of that the one club would hold a 3v3 tournament in the early part of summer to raise even more money for the scholarship funds.  I know that in both clubs that about 80-90% of the funds were used every year.  Possible a sign of the times for our economy.

The last club I worked with took it one step further in that they hired a full time employee who did nothing but Spanish and low income relationships.  The employee, who was fluent in Spanish, would write for grants that allowed the club to go into low income neighborhoods to start "Street Soccer USA" and "Soccer Across America" programs. 

As you mentioned one of the things that Jurgen wants to change is the pricing to play soccer in the US.  With that in mind one of the things that Jurgen and the US Soccer Development Academy have done is to make their programs free or almost free to it's players and families.  Unlike normal programs, clubs involved in the USSDA program have to go out and find sponsors so that their fees are preferable nothing or next to nothing.  Again participation at this level of soccer is by invitation only for players who are deemed to be the best in their age groups. 

With programs like I have mentioned above I am hoping that dynamics of soccer participants in general for the US will broaden and become more diversified.  Or at least I can dream. 

Cheers