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| Soccer Articles | 7/15/2008
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| Player Development in the United States: Maintaining a Perspective |
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U.S. Soccer believes that first and foremost youth soccer is a sport that players should experience and enjoy as a game with a focus on individual experimentation and development.
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U.S. Soccer believes that first and foremost youth soccer is a sport that players should experience and enjoy as a game with a focus on individual experimentation and development.
U.S. Soccer encourages creating soccer environments that will help promote the players’ lifelong love of the sport. These environments should allow for the creativity, spontaneity and experimentation that the game of soccer naturally encourages. Too often, children are put into situations where development is secondary and winning is a priority, which leads to burnout and stifles individual skill development.
We believe that a player’s development is enhanced when the short-term goals of a coach are pursued within the perspective of the player’s long-term needs. The following is a two-part commentary on the importance of (1) Having continuity and perspective in player development, and (2) Allowing children to experience soccer as it makes sense for their age and level of soccer maturity. Part one addresses the theoretical stages of player development and how each successive step is built upon the foundations established in the previous stage. In the second part, the current Men’s National Team coaching staff comments on the charge of their specific age group, and how it fits into the overall United States Men’s National Team program of development and success.
The development of a player spans three general stages:
Youth level (ages 6-12)
Junior level (ages 13-17)
Senior level (ages 18 and older)
A player’s chances of success at the Senior level are greatly enhanced by mastering the building blocks of soccer that are best addressed at the Youth and Junior levels.
At the Youth level, ball skills, enjoyment of and experimentation within the game are key for a player’s development.
At the Junior level, ball skills, enjoyment and insight into the game, with a gradual introduction to fitness, mental toughness and results. At this point, any success in winning matches should begin to be the product of a consistent and systematic approach to the game that focuses more on player development than on team-building. (The theory being that individually competent soccer players that are placed together on a team are more prepared to win than well-organized players who are unable to stand alone on their soccer abilities).
At the Senior level, players need to use all these qualities together, along with a commitment to excellence, in order to figure out how to win. If a player skips a step at the Youth or Junior levels, he will find success and enjoyment more difficult as he moves toward the senior level.
At the Youth and Junior levels, there are several points to address when discussing how to achieve these goals:
(1) The game is the best teacher - let the kids learn from it by setting up opportunities for them to play
(2) Allow kids to learn in environments that are sensitive to age and abilities (emotional and athletic) and that offer a variety of experiences.
(3) Age and ability competition is a central element in a player’s development.
(4) At the youth level, a competitive environment is not a result-oriented environment. The differences must be clear. A competitive environment at the youth level encourages decisions from player and coach alike that focus on performance rather than results. (Favoring ball skill and inventiveness as the means to find success within the rules and spirit of the game)
(5) At the junior level, technical skill and attacking soccer are still important themes, but now there is a greater focus on developing players’ insight into the game by emphasizing the role of the game itself as a forum for learning. (Still focusing on the performance, rather than the result)
(6) At the youth and junior levels, matches are important as a means to player development (enjoyment, ball skill, insight, fitness), not as the aim. The usefulness of the game, in this respect, can occur in many different forms, from the 4v4 to the full-sided match model. Even at the Senior level, the game still offers opportunities for growth – only the weight of balance between factors such as enjoyment, ball skill, insight, fitness and results shift more toward the latter.
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