TDS & The Beautiful Game

MLS set to begin involvement in youth development

2006-09-29T17:30:00.000-07:00

It’s an oft-talked about subject in elite youth soccer circles, but the specifics of the franchises in Major League Soccer getting involved with elite youth player development are still somewhat elusive.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber let a key cat out of the bag during the league’s All-Star break this summer, confirming that teams in the league would be able to designate youth players participating in their programs, thus reserving rights within MLS to sign said player. Previously all players, even if having been part of some youth setup affiliate with the MLS team, would have to go through the league’s SuperDraft to determine which team they would play with.

With the “home grown” threshold crossed, MLS teams now have real incentive to get involved in the business of youth development, but just how should they go about it?

The league is expected to announce details of the setup sometime in the midst of the MLS Cup weekend November 9-11 in Frisco, Texas. But as bits and pieces slip out about the initiatives, apparently still not set in stone, an intriguing picture emerges as to what the league might be doing, and how that might relate to the world of international soccer and the well-developed mass of clubs already operating youth teams in this country.

What is often whispered when MLS getting involved with the youth game is whether this will threaten the livelihood of many club directors and coaches who have been training youth players, sometimes for decades. An oft-accompanying question is what the effect of that would be on the state of the game in this country.

Demagoguery and emotional arguments aside, everyone is saying publicly they want to work together.

Time for MLS to take the mantle?

MLS youth development guru Alfonso Mondelo, who confirmed that the plan still calls for MLS clubs to have at least 2 youth teams in operation by next spring, said there plenty of soccer to go around for everyone.

“The game is here for everyone, but there are different demands for different areas,” Mondelo said. “The professional product is what we have to worry about – so that shouldn’t’ be the primary concern of youth soccer, which for the most part is there for recreation and to bring the game to masses. Professional teams have a different outlook, and they will be concerened with maybe the top 1-2 percent of youth players in the country who truly want to make the game their life. They have different needs to develop their skills.”

Mondelo agreed that the goal for professional youth teams needs to be an arrangement that doesn’t involved pay-to-play.

“These teams would scouted, selected and handpicked with the objective in mind that some of these players can reach the professional game, and by doing this hopefully we improve the level of the professional game,” he continued. “Right now the youth game is designed mainly for recreation and, at the competitive level, to prepare players whose ultimate goal is to reach college. That’s been the youth model, but now there is a professional league to asapire to. So I would hope we can cooperate with everybody. There’s still a role for those clubs. There’s enough players to go around for everyone. This is just a natural evolution of the game.”

Specifics beginning to emerge

Real Salt Lake General Manager Steve Pastorino agreed that the specifics of what most or all clubs will be doing in terms of youth development are still up in the air.

“There have been a lot of converations going on around the league the last month along the lines of ‘What are you guys going to do? How are you handling this situation. Because all the market situations are different, it’s almost hard to have any joint idea what do to.”

In the case of Real Salt Lake, team president Dave Checketts may have moved things to the inside path in one fell swoop. Checketts negotiated a deal with Spanish giants Real Madrid for a cooperative agreement between the two clubs, which will include a state of the art youth academy to be built in Salt Lake City and operated by the two clubs.

While some specifics of even that deal, such as what right the Spanish club might have to players developed in the academy, remain to be understood, Pastorino said the deal is so advantageous that those details will fall under the category of “It’s all good.”

“Dave explained that Real Madrid is a 50 percent partner financially, but they obviously bring 100 years of history and tradition and development mentality to us, where we’re obviously a young organization,” Pastorino said. “The idea is for it to resemble many of the amenities of the IMG Academy (which houses the U17 National Team Residency in Bradenton, Florida – and which features Checketts a board member). It should include year-round training facilities, housing and an academic program either on site or through a sister school.

“I envision the player admission as being international in scope. I agree with Dave when he says the day that we’re fighting (with Real) over the rights to the first prodigal 17-year old the academy produces, will be a great day.”

Pastorino added that while the expertise of Real Madrid is something to be coveted, Real Salt Lake will be able to ensure that the academy is operated with an eye toward American society’s quirks, also noting that former U17 National Team coach John Ellinger has more experience with youth development ideas than many head coaches in MLS.

Ellinger expects that there will be a learning process underway in the first year of the league’s foray into youth development. He noted the Real Salt Lake teams will participate in the Super Y-League, but said the establishment of residency will be vital.

“If we’re going to survive we have the academy and it has to be residential,” he said. “Then we can be serious about developing players that we declare to be our own at the first team.”

Ellinger offered some insight into some specifics of the league’s youth setup. He said of the mandated 2 teams, one will be U15 and the other either U17 or U18.

Interestingly, the teams will have a geographic area established for them, based on the population base of the league’s biggest markets, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. This means the Salt Lake franchise, for instance will be able to field a youth team in Arizona, which is designated as its territory. Ellinger said the criteria by which a player will be deemed to have been part of the pro club’s operation (before they are eligible to be “claimed”) is still somewhat sketchy, but added it might be something like 100 training days with the club.

Another interesting wrinkle in the budding plan is that, with the territorial map based on population, some large areas of the country are left unassigned. Ellinger said MLS clubs are permitted to field up to 2 youth teams in unassigned areas, with players on those clubs thus eligible to be designated as part of the club’s setup. Some rather choice unassigned areas include Southeastern areas like North Carolina, Georgia and Florida, along with Northern California.

Youth National Team players would not be eligible for claiming, but would continue to go into the draft pool if they sign a Generation adidas contract. Additionally, there will be a limit to the number of players a club can claim per year, possibly 4.

Ellinger said he hopes to see a happy medium reached regarding utilization of outgoing MLS players vs. veteran youth coaches.

“I’d like to see us able to work together, where we bring people into our organization and set up a permanent structure that’s good for us and good for the game in this country,” he said. “We’re going to see what works and what doesn’t.”

Pastorino added that teams, while distinct in what arrangements they may be working out with local youth organizations, share a common emergence as credible players on developmental front, particularly with the new rules allowing them to keep players.

“Until this was announced, there’s never been an incentive for MLS teams to develop players. I think it’s fairly safe to say youth soccer looked at any outreach from MLS as more about marketing than youth development, because they knew there was no incentive for us to be in youth development,” he said. “Now the landscape is changing, and when you look at training facilities and youth field complexes like those in Colorado and Dallas, it should make clear that we believe they are an important part of a soccer tradition in this country. As we move ahead with this, we’re not denying all the things the state associations and other groups have done to keep the game alive in the absence of a D1 pro soccer league in this country.

“I used to feel that when we got involved in youth soccer, the feeling coming back was ‘We’ve been doing this for 20 years and you are Johnny-come-lately, just trying to sell tickets. I think we’ve come a long way from that.”

Club coaches willing to work together

A pair of directors of coaching at large clubs said while there are points of concern, they hope that the parties can work together to establish a happy relationship between the professional and youth clubs.

CASL Director of Coaching Jay Howell, who has been instrumental in forming the new Red Bull National League 17, said the goals shared by the various parties are ostensibly the same.

“As I’ve talked to different directors, this is one more of the new things people are waiting to see,” he said of the MLS initiative. “All the clubs that have bought in to starting (the Red Bull league), we all, as part of the American soccer fabric want the game to move forward,. “It’s not strictly territorial or taking care of my yard. We want MLS and the USL First Division to do well because it’s important for American soccer. These players we work with, sometimes from when they are 5, 6 or 7 years old, we want them to have the opportunity to play professional soccer.

“I’m hoping we can expand and work with MLS and the others and create something special for a true pyramid of development in this country, instead of everybody just looking after their own yard. But the details can be tough. The next 3-4 years will be very interesting.”

While Howell’s state of North Carolina might be considered prime territory from a distance by a number of MLS clubs, former professional player Peter Vermes directs a club, Blue Valley SC, right in the backyard of MLS club Kansas City Wizards. KC is planning to build a stadium and youth complex pending voter approval. Vermes said the establishment of such youth programs by the clubs is going to a major challenge.

“It’s a very difficult proposition on their part. You can’t just have one model and say ‘here is the cookie cutter and we’ll put this in for every team. Every franchise has a unique situation with the youth soccer environment on their team,” he said. “As great as it is for the Wizards to stay here, they’ve never tapped into the local youth community. If you go in and just create a youth academy with an MLS team and don’t have a lay of the land, you can really upset a lot of people, people who are making a living out of it.”

Vermes explained that it doesn’t mean the pro clubs can’t get involved.

“You can be creative and create relationships with those clubs and use some of those coaches who have been doing it already. I don’t think it’s a bad idea for them to delve into the youth side, but it has to be specifically for higher-level training with high-quality coaches and competitions, not just more of the same,” he added. “You don’t want to get into a situation where the local community doesn’t want to support the MLS team in their area. Then on the club side, we have to be respectful and want to give the kids the best opportunities they can have.”

Vermes noted that in regard to broader issues of player development in this country, MLS getting involved with youth development shouldn’t be viewed as a cure-all, noting important challenges such as kids playing freely at younger ages and coaching quality both at the recreational and competitive levels, will still need to be addressed.

Changes in program, schedule and roster for Bradenton Residency program

2006-07-23T10:47:00.000-07:00

With the first year of the latest Bradenton Residency cycle at IMG Academy complete, U17 National Team coach John Hackworth and his staff are busy finalizing the 40-man roster for the upcoming fall semester.

The group has had a pair of training camps this summer and in all, is continuing the practice Hackworth instituted of giving more and longer looks to more players eligible for inclusion.

While the scouting, training, evaluating and decision-making about the roster is exacting enough, it comes this summer in conjunction with the implementation of some subtle but significant changes in the Residency program. These changes reflect the staff’s evaluation of and the overall goals the U.S. Soccer Federation has for the Residency program.

The most noticeable change is a considerably-juiced up schedule as the team accelerates preparations for the CONCACAF Qualifying tournament (in March) for the FIFA U17 World Cup (August or September in South Korea).

Slight shift in program emphasis means more soccer

But perhaps a more noteworthy adjustment is a slight drawing back of the academic schedule for players in Bradenton, replacing a fast-track courseload with a more standard pace, while in turn maximizing the soccer experience in terms of schedule and program for the squad.

“We’re always trying to improve our player development programs. In this country we have a unique soccer culture and a unique interface between soccer and everyday life,” Hackworth said. “There is an underlying thought that you have to do everything and please everybody, but through these minor changes to our schedule, we want to better focus our players’ time and energy more to the development of their soccer skills.”

With players taking 6 courses per day rather than the previous 8, some flexibility is built into the daily schedule. Hackworth noted that in slowing down the rate of coursework taken at the school attended by the players, there is an expectation of improving the quality of education given the boys at Residency (an education that has already been placing previous graduates in high-level universities around the country).

“We’ve changed our daily schedule so the focus will be on soccer in the morning before anything else – and we’ve switched the school to the afternoon,” Hackworth explained. “So they’ll go back to the normal workload in academics, where for the past few years they’ve been taking 2 extra courses per semester.

“This way the kids will come in a little fresher, not having gone through 8 classes in school before soccer. Also, by scaling back to an advanced curriculum, it gives them the opportunity to do extra sessions in the afternoon or have personal time to do their own training.”

The rest of this article is available at www.topdrawersoccer.com

Anson Dorrance, GregRyan, Kaz Tambi & others on how we develop players

2006-07-17T17:49:00.000-07:00

This is a small segment of an article at www.topdrawersoccer.com on How We Develop Players - the Girls side

There’s no more famous figure in Women’s Soccer than University of North Carolina coach Anson Dorrance. While a number of programs have shown themselves to be able to compete with the program at Chapel Hill, there is still an ideal and a symbolism to that program which seems to never be far from the world of Girls soccer in this country as a whole. Dorrance’s comments about the state of the game here are noteworthy in several respects, not the least of which is his willingness to sound warnings about some of our more established trends.

For starters, Dorrance agrees that there tends to be an overemphasis on winning competitions at too early of an age, but notes that rectifying this is not so simple, as there needs to be a competitive aspect to provide an energy to player development.

“Too much thought about winning at a young age, that’s a legitimate concern, but it’s a difficult thing to get your arms around. You can’t really develop athletic excellence in a recreational arena. If you want to make players elite, they can’t have no concern for competition,” he said. “This area between winning and development becomes blurred naturally. It’s difficult to eliminate winning from that equation. If you look at recreational environments, kids are just running around having a good time.

Arena out as National Team Coach

2006-07-14T09:36:00.000-07:00

U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati has announced that Bruce Arena's contract as head coach of the U.S. Men's National Team will not be renewed. Gulati said a search for a replacement will begin immediately, with no potential coaches having been contacted yet.

Gulati confirmed that Arena had expressed a desire to continue in the position, and added that the former DC United and University of Virginia has some other job possibilities. Arena has reportedly been offered an opportunity to run the New York franchise of Major League Soccer.

Gulati confirmed that Juergen Klinsmann, the Southern California who recently resigned as head coach of his native Germany, is someone he is interested in talking with about the job. He declined to mention any further specifics about possible candidates.

"I’m sure I will talk to Juergen," he said. "He’s an interesting coach who lives in America and has expressed a desire to remain in America."

In describing characteristics of attractive coaching prospects, Gulati emphasized the importance of coaches understanding the unique aspects of the American setup.

"It's not a prerequisite, but there are some unique things about soccer here, with our league, with the NCAA and other things," Gulati said. "It's a different challenge here."

Statement from Bruce Arena as released by US Soccer:

"I would like to thank the players, coaches and staff who have been with the program over the last eight years," said Arena. "Their tireless effort has helped transform the national team program into something we can all be proud of, and I am extremely grateful for their commitment. I have thoroughly enjoyed this experience, and I would like to thank U.S. Soccer for the opportunity and their support throughout my tenure. I am proud of how far the organization has come over the last eight years, and I am extremely optimistic about the future of the sport in our country. As for me, I am planning to take some time off to weigh my future opportunities.”

A Suggested Response to the early exit from the World Cup

2006-06-24T17:29:00.000-07:00

this article was published today at www.topdrawersoccer.com - where I have written a number of other articles on the subject of player development

Thursday’s disappointment in the World Cup is spawning some predictable outrage in print and electronic media, as well as around the Internet and any other places where American soccer fans tend to congregate.

That there is interest in such a thing is generally a good thing, and a sign of progress from, say, 16 years ago when most people probably didn’t know we were even in the World Cup Finals.

But it is vitally important that we grasp the most important lessons and messages from the performance of our National Team on the biggest of all soccer stages. A big part of my reason for starting this web site goes back to the immediate aftermath of 1998, when I began to take an academic interest in the subject of what it will take for the USA to get from point A to B as a soccer nation.

The answer to that question is the same now as it was 8 years ago, and while there has been undoubted progress in our national acumen and quality, the main reason we lost in this World Cup tracks directly with the biggest question, the one I posed back in 98.

Why did we lose?

It is very important that we understand one simple truth: We ultimately lost in this World Cup because we did not have good enough players.

It wasn’t because of refereeing. While there were some questionable calls in the game, there are in nearly every game.

It wasn’t because of coaching. The same coach who took us to the quarterfinals in 2002 didn’t suddenly become inept, as some are supposing. Whether Bruce Arena continues on the job or not, there is no question he has played an important and valuable role in introducing us to some possibilities as a soccer nation, and particularly in shaking some key American soccer circles out of a contentment with mediocre methods that would never serve us in our quest to achieve at the highest levels. We didn’t lose because of coaching.

It wasn’t because of some anti-American conspiracy. While haters of America are out there, the opportunity is present for our national team to compete at the highest levels.

No, we lost because our players weren’t good enough. They fall short technically, tactically, physically and in terms of soccer mentality and culture. It might seem strange then for me to say I don’t mean that as a personal affront to the players we had in Germany, but I don’t. I think the squad selection was right and I certainly don’t need to duplicate the many efforts to break down player-by-player performances. This is the best group of players that we’ve had, but if you really think our top players are as great as those in the top soccer nations, you probably should stop reading because we are disagreeing on a fundamental premise.

Why aren’t our players good enough?

The next question then is obvious, and the answer I suggest is to identify the same problem I noticed 8 years ago. The problem ultimately is that we don’t develop players nationally and systemically, in a proper manner.

The first answer I would typically get in advancing this over the past four years was “What about reaching the quarters in 2002?” My answer to this has been that by sheer force of numbers and to a lesser degree by the most obvious and general improvements in our system, we have managed to produce some better-quality players, but the main avenue of our system, evidenced not just by the performance of our national team but by the relatively small number of professional-quality players we are producing, has continued to lag well behind the top nations.

Let me be clear on this, I think the main issue with our system is just that – the system. Undoubtedly we have a core group of hard-working, devoted and talented coaches at all levels of the American game. Over the past four year I have seen from up close that many coaches, some very high profile and others relatively unknown, have a deep and abiding love for the progress of the game in this country. They take a similar interest in these questions and are doing everything they can to better themselves and the system of which they are part.

Now, many of these same coaches would agree that we need to get more such coaches at all levels, and we will address the issues of club structure and coaching education later, but for now let’s focus on the system itself.

What is the problem with the system?

Statement: The biggest problem with player development in this country is that elite youth soccer in this country is, before anything else, a business.

It has been my experience over and over that business interests get in the way of the changes needed to improve youth player development. This is illustrated in part by the following:

1. Youth soccer clubs – the primary day-to-day developmental vehicle for players, are set up on a pay-to-play basis. This means the paying customers, largely parents with little to no soccer background, end up driving the program.

2. The competitive structure for elite youth teams in the U.S. is primarily tournaments and the state, regional and national Cup series. All of these are set up as money-making ventures.

3. The holy grail of college soccer scholarships, while not a business in itself, is catered to by the club promises of exposure (mainly at tournaments) and the tournament structure (even as early as ages U12 and U13 where rankings and subsequent placement at future tournaments are affected). Thus families involved in the game eventually shell out tens of thousands of dollars (maybe even 6 figures) over a several-year period. Willingness to participate in the system as it currently exists is what keeps the world of youth soccer liquid.

4. The entire national player identification is set up as a money-spinning operation. State and Regional ODP tryouts, training and trips are all pay-to-play. That some players are taken on scholarship only illustrates that enough money is coming in to support such actions, however well-intended. While competing organizations may not charge for every event, their finances are driven largely by other pay-to-play endeavors. While U.S. Soccer National Team events are free of charge for families, the brunt of the ID process used to select players, especially at the youngest national team ages, are pay to play.

5. The governing organizations of elite youth soccer in the U.S., U.S. Youth Soccer, US Club Soccer and the United Soccer Leagues’ Super Y –League, are all businesses.

Now the case can be made that when you speak of what has been done in the name of player development to this point, little to none of it would have been possible if not for the revenue generated by all of the above businesses. I don’t argue with that, but that doesn’t make it the best way of doing things, and certainly doesn’t stand as an argument against making the changes we need in our system if we are to move ahead. The status quo leaves us treading water at best, and more likely falling under the international current.

You see, everywhere else the business of soccer is about winning. Not winning theU13 Such and Such Cup, but winning at the professional level. The professional league in each country is full of clubs doing all they can to produce the best players in order to sell them to bigger clubs and/or to win and thus, make money. So these professional clubs are the leaders in their respective countries’ youth development systems.

In America however, we have a professional league that until now has done virtually nothing in the area of youth player development. Now in Season 11, Major League Soccer officials are talking much more openly and boldly about doing such a thing, but many teams still have very real reservations about doing so. They are reluctant because of business. Since youth soccer in this country is first a business, creating teams or leagues that would be seen as competition to the existing organizations has been something of a third rail for MLS. Officials in existing youth organizations haven’t been shy about warning the league away from such endeavors, noting that the fan support of the youth soccer community is a logically key element in any successful marketing plan for pro soccer. So again, the business interest of youth soccer serves as a potential impediment for an improved player development system.

An X factor in all of this is the American attitude toward education. College education is viewed by many as necessary (an entitlement even) and even the traditional high school experience tends to be revered in our society. In terms of soccer, there is a certain percentage of college soccer programs that do present a professional-style approach to competition and development. However, many of the regulations governing the college game range from problematic to contrary to quality development for the elite player. High school soccer is much more hit and miss when it comes to finding good coaching and the idea that the competition is helpful for the most talented and ambitious players. Still, the concept of bypassing either of these is still largely outside the box in our society.

It is difficult to make a serious attempt at reforming our system without addressing the proper role of school and its relationship to elite athletics. Again, I want to be clear that this is not said in disrespect to the many outstanding coaches and programs in the college game. College soccer will and should always be there, but the professional-first alternative needs to be developed more fully if we are to begin to bridge the considerable international gap (a dual-track system, something like with college and minor league baseball, is the ideal).

So what needs to change from our current system?

1. Ages 6-12

At these young ages we simply must remove the competitive emphasis that currently exists. I spoke this week with a mom on a U11 team who told me her daughter’s team had played 70 matches over a 12-month period, including 9 tournaments. I’ve walked past U10 matches at tournaments where teams had traveled more than 1,000 miles to compete. This part of the tournament business, the business of having to win, has to go, and the best clubs will need to take the lead in doing away with it.

Players at this age need to be learning how to play. When I’ve traveled to Argentina, Germany and elsewhere, it is plain to see that the kids in these places all know how to play, and they are playing largely on their own, in sandlots, on asphalt courts, on the beach, in the street. If we don’t have a society where that happens naturally (and in many areas of the country we don’t), we should try to emulate it at the club level in the following ways:

1. Let The Kids Play – There is no need for players of this age to have a stifling competitive program. A league with matches once a week can be fine, but even a schedule of matches should be secondary to open playing times. What if clubs just organized nightly “pickup matches” for age-appropriate open playing, with small-sided games on short playing fields, just allowing the kids the continuing experience of enjoying the game with no competitive pressure? The point of my mentioning what happens overseas is that for those kids, playing the game is 2nd nature. Showing up to just play for fun can help us achieve some of that cultural aspect.

2. Technical Excellence – The most notable difference between top American players and their international counterparts, as cited over and over again by national and regional coaches, is their skill in striking, dribbling and receiving the ball. Matching speed of play mentally and physically might be accomplished in later developmental years, but the brunt of technical development, according to the experts, takes place at these years. While point 1 here can definitely affect that, we need a cadre of coaches for players of these ages who can truly teach our youngest players how to play.

An impediment to this has been that the business environment of youth soccer tends to reward coaches more inclined to simply collect the biggest and fastest players in order to win trophies. Especially at the youngest ages where there can be a great disparity in size from one player or team to the next, teaching players how to play the ball on the ground with skill and speed does not always translate to winning events. Club should resolve to expend resources on coaches who can teach players to play, away from the glamour of competitive circles. This is currently often left to independent “skills trainers” who in fairness, have a very mixed record when it comes to quality, particularly when it comes to teaching skills of functional value to the aspiring player (as opposed to a half a dozen tricks and no real idea of if or when they might work in a match). Progressive clubs need to make this a standard part of their developmental program, and not leave the coaching of younger players to parent-volunteers.

2. Ages 13-15

The most sweeping changes are probably needed in this age group. We need to do more to properly identify and develop our best players. Having said that, I think we need to avoid prematurely pegging players as being good enough or not good enough for a national level. This calls for changes in the competitive structure, player ID system, National Team program and yes, even in the business end of things.

Suggested Changes:

1. A coordinated calendar – This is necessary not only to undo one of the grave problems in our current system (overusing the players with too many matches), but also to give players fewer schedule conflicts and difficult choices. It will also serve to clear the way for the opportunity so many top coaches say we need to provide more of for top players, playing with and against the best players more often. A suggested coordinated calendar is submitted in Appendix A.

2. The recognition/establishment of an Elite Team Level in our competitive structure. –In many ways we already have this, as noted by clubs and teams that are willing to go the extra mile in terms of time and money. Yet we still lump these teams into the same overall competitive environment as the rest of the “Travel” teams.

In a given age group (U13 to U18) there are 500 to 1,000 teams nationally, but probably no more than 100 of these teams might aspire to be considered an Elite program, meaning 10-20 percent of the teams at an age group. The numbers likely will differ as the players get older, but you get the idea. Clubs under this level will agree to nationally-established standards for training and competitive schedules, facilities and coaching experience and quality. Identification of these clubs will be a key component of reforming our system.

3. In keeping with the above two points – the establishment of a league structure as the main competitive format for these Elite teams – the matches to training ratio for even our elite clubs tends to not be so great because of the pressure to compete in so many tournaments. It’s no accident that 2 areas that produce a lot of very good teams – Southern California and Dallas, have the 2 best leagues in the country with a regular slate of quality matches. The goal of the league structure is to reduce the number of matches played in a year, and to raise the average quality of each match by putting the brunt of those teams willing to meet the Elite standard, in a competitive setup that has them playing each other much more often, and teams with a lower standard, much less.

Three of the four Regions in U.S. Youth Soccer have established region-wide leagues, and this is definitely a good step for the sake of more quality matches, but with the overriding emphasis on tournaments and State Cup, plus the difficult travel requirements of such leagues, these leagues may have limited developmental benefit.

This league would call for weekly matches within subsections of each region, playing in both spring and fall – with maybe 6 teams in each league. The schedule would set aside a couple of weekends per season (fall and spring) for major tournaments.

One of the more controversial and probably resisted aspects of this plan is that the approximately 100 clubs nationally that would compete in such a league, would not participate in their State or Regional Cup, but would instead vie for an Elite League National Championship. The existing competitions of course would still be available for the great majority of existing Travel clubs.

A specific National :League proposal is submitted in Appendix B.

4. Regional centers of excellence - One weekend per month should be set aside for a group of the best players – something like 48 players per age group, per region. Perhaps half of the players should be selected based on identification at a July regional camp, and the other half nominated by club coaches based on ongoing player development and performance. This should help avoid the air of permanence that tends to work for and against younger players when it comes to ODP.

The training program for these regional centers should be directed in a coordinated, national manner.

5. An international exchange program should also be in place – taking the most promising young players and placing them in overseas training assignments to expose them to the international standard and professional opportunities. This is best contracted out at the club level to avoid conflicts of interest, and will accelerate the professionalization of our overall developmental system.

6. National Team Oversight – Some of the best player development examples I have seen in practice and heard espoused have come from our U14 and U15 National Team programs. The National Player ID camp in Massachusetts every August is a splendid week of age-specific training. Similarly the U15 National Team has a great program for 24-48 top players a few times every year. Perhaps it is best to utilize these age-level coaches on a broader scale, working as part of the youth national staff on a planning and roving basis, and on a full-time schedule. Instead of having to make decisions on identifying one group of players, they can continue to work with the larger group of players (up to 200 per age group) through the year.

This national oversight can also be extended to the club level, providing assistance in coaching education and player development.

There should be a national director of youth development, working in conjunction with the National Team Coach, who has authority over all of the regional and national programs mentioned in this article.

7. Joint Sponsorship – Perhaps the most obvious problem with the above is that it calls for cooperation between competing sponsors. It may paint me as naïve, but I believe the governing organizations should call on those who have sponsored competing programs, to put competition aside and allow themselves to be seen for a benevolent quality, working together for the good of the overall American game. The advertising and exposure opportunities can be built into the program, but isn’t it time quality player development was placed above business interest?

U.S. Soccer is wrongly blamed for many things and expected to do many more things that really aren’t its role. But here’s an area where it can step in and make a big difference. New Federation head Sunil Gulati has already shown some very promising leanings, and another one would be to get the mega-companies, particularly adidas and Nike, to work together in the effort to reform our national developmental system. The national director position I mention in point 6 can also be an important one when it comes to mediating the delicate issue of getting cooperation from these competing businesses. We need their help, and we need them to get on board.

Ages 16-18

1. Establishing a Professionally-driven developmental route.

a. Each MLS side – and perhaps some USL sides, would have a U17 and a U19 side.
b. Each professional youth side should roughly mirror each 6-team sub regional league from age groups U13 to U15.
c. Teams should consist of 16 players, totaling 250 players nationally (125 per age group)
d. The league/teams are a partnership between MLS and US Soccer, with an established professional standard for training and coaching. The National Director for Youth Development (referenced above) should be the lead figure in this partnership.
e. A priority should be made to utilize those with proven experience in youth development, while also developing younger coaches as apprentices, especially from the professional playing ranks.
f. While the collegiate eligibility of players should be protected, there should be a definite motif that these teams and age groups are preparing players for an opportunity to play professionally upon finishing high school.
g. These teams should have a built-in international component, perhaps twice a year for each team, to maintain the current international opportunities provided by Regional ODP.
h. The Bradenton Residency program has undoubtedly been an important factor in developing players at the top end of the scale, despite increasing conflict with the status quo club system. While MLS sides having U17 and U19 teams can replace Residency in the role of day-to-day elite player development for the age group, there will need to be a transition before we stop having a group of top players based at IMG Academy. A similar component for players a year older can be a useful transition as well. There will continue to be U17 and U20 National Teams of course, so the logical progression is for those coaching staffs to both be involved in the program and oversight of the professional youth centers, and to invite players in for training camps according to the schedule for the FIFA World Championships at those age levels.

2. Maintaining the College track of player development

a. This would mirror the same league-based competitive schedule as advocated for the U13 to U15 age groups. While a much greater percentage of these players will be pursuing college soccer, there is no less commitment to their development as players, as befitting the very real and high standard of development available in the top college programs. (and avoiding the same overuse issues with a tournament-heavy setup).
b. As with the U13-U15 age groups, separate national events for the Elite National League and the National Cup series can be held, but unlike the younger age groups, teams can compete in both to maximize college recruiting opportunities. State Cup schedules should be streamlined to facilitate this.
c. A weekend set aside per month for State ODP teams (a league or series of festivals could make very good recruiting events).

3. Coaching Education Program: The efforts of Bob Jenkins and others to reinvigorate the national coaching education program must be continued. This country should mirror the highest standards of coaching proficiency in the world, using the best personnel and methods here and abroad. The practice of simply collecting talent in order to win events rather than continuing to develop players at this age needs to become a thing of the past.

Main Challenges to the Proposed Changes (Just to show I’m not blindly idealistic)

1. Getting the youth organizations to work together
2. Getting the equipment companies and other sponsors to work together
(both of these 2 will call for strong national oversight)

3. Some Major Tournament will not fit into the league-based competitive schedule and would have to change dates.
4. Elite Team Players will not be able to play high school soccer.
5. Some Parents will balk at the travel required for the monthly Regional Camps.
6. This does not address pay-to-play at the club level, although the U13-U15 regional camps should be fully funded.
7. Loss of funds for Regional ODP from camps and overseas trips for U16 to U18 age groups.
8. At what point do we transition from National Residency to the MLS teams, with Youth National Staff oversight?
9. The challenge of Coaching Education for those participating in the MLS youth component.
10. The objection of coaches to the perception of removing some of the 250 players from the college recruiting pool.
11. Are their not enough slots in for the Elite National League? Should there be 2 tiers per sub region?
12. Who decides which 6 teams get into each sub regional?
13. What if an area doesn’t have enough teams willing or able to meet the nationally-set standards.
14. Enforcing Down Time in the Coordinated Calendar.
15. Enforcing Club coaching standards, particularly for the youngest ages.
16. Our current Soccer subculture is resistant to change –whether for lack of understanding or the reality that some people would be giving up power.

Appendix A – A Sample National Calendar
(Training 3-4 nights per week – League matches on Saturdays)

Weekend 1 – September 2 through 4 – Elite Tournament Weekend
Weekend 2 – September 9 and 10 – League Match One
Weekend 3 – September 16 and 17 – League Match Two
Weekend 4 – September 23 and 24 – League Match Three
Weekend 5 – September 30 and October 1 – Regional Camp Weekend

Weekend 6 – October 7 and 8 – League Match Four
Weekend 7 – October 14 and 15 – League Match Five
Weekend 8 – October 21 and 22 – League Match Six
Weekend 9 – October 28 and 29 – Regional Camp Weekend

Weekend 10 – November 4 and 5 – League Match Seven
Weekend 11 – November 11 and 12 – League Match Eight
Weekend 12 – November 18 and 19 – League Match Nine
Weekend 13 – November 25 and 26 – Regional Camp Weekend

Weekend 14 – December 2 and 3 – League Match Ten
Weekend 15 – December 9 and 10 – Regional Camp Weekend
Weekends 16 and 17 - Off
Weekend 18* December 26-Jan 1 – Elite Tournament Week (Winter Break)

January and February are off

Weekend 19 – March 3 and 4 – League Match Eleven
Weekend 20 – March 10 and 11 – League Match Twelve
Weekend 21 – March 17 and 18 – League Match Thirteen
Weekend 22 – March 24 and 25 – Regional Camp Weekend
Weekend 23 – March 31 and April 1 – League Match Fourteen
Weekend 24 – April 7 and 8 – League Match Fifteen
Weekend 25 – April 14 through 22 – Elite Tournament Week (Spring Break)
Weekend 26 – April 28 and 29 – Regional Camp Weekend
Weekend 27 – May 5 and 6 – League Match 16
Weekend 28 – May 12 and 13 – League Match 17
Weekend 29 – May 19 and 20 – League Match 18
Weekend 30 – May 26, 27 and 28 – Elite Tournament Weekend
Weekend 31 – June 2 and 3 – Regional Camp Weekend
Weekend 32 – June 9 and 10 – League Match 19
Weekend 33 – June 16 and 17 – League Match 20
Elite League National Championship – June 23 through June 30 (16 teams)
Summer Regional Camps – July 1-14 (one week per age group)
Mid-July through August – off.
(and then we start all over again)

Appendix B – Proposed National League Structure

Four Subregional Leagues in each of Four Regions – for 16 leagues.

Six teams per league, to support a 10 match, home and away schedule as in Appendix A.

(Note: Some areas clearly can support more than 6 Elite clubs in a league. Southern California and Texas come to mind immediately, and there’s no reason why the administrative apparatus of the Coast Soccer League and Dallas Classic League could not be grafted in to the overall national setup. possible 2nd tier with promotion and relegation)

Possible Boys Setup (This is a purely hypothetical listing. It doesn’t intend to be the exhaustive list of clubs that COULD be in such an Elite National League, and it isn’t speaking at all to all teams in all age groups – nor does it indicate any interest of any of these clubs in being involved in such a reformed setup).

Region I Northeast
Nordic Premier, Seacoast United, FC Greater Boston Bolts, Oakwood SC, South Central Premier, Midstate United

Region I New York
Rochester Jr. Rhinos, Syracuse Blitz, Albany Blackwatch, FC Westchester, BW Gottschee, Team 6

Region I EasternPenn/NJ
PDA, MatchFit Academy, FC DELCO, PSC Coppa, SuperNova, PA Classics

Region I Mid Atlantic
Bethesda SC, Potomac SA, Baltimore Bays, Great Falls/Reston, Richmond Strikers, Beach FC

Region II Great Lakes
Michigan Wolves, VardarStars, Internationals, Cleveland FC, Beadling, Toledo club

Region II Ohio River
Javanon, Carmel United, Fort Wayne, Ohio Elite, Ohio Blast, Ohio FC

Region II Upper Midwest
Chicago Magic, Sockers FC, FC Milwaukee, Madison 56ers, Minnesota club, Iowa club

Region II Lower Midwest
Scott Gallagher, Lou Fusz SC, St. Louis SC, KCFC Alliance, Tulsa SC, MSS Arsenal

Region III Florida
First Coast, Central Florida, Clearwater, HC United, West Kendall, Boca/Schulz

Region III South Atlantic
Atlanta Fire, Georgia club, SC club, CASL, Charlotte SC, Triangle FC

Region III South
Tennessee FC, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Team 6

Region III Texas
Dallas Texans, Solar, FC Texas, Lonestar, Austin Capitals, TSC Texans, (as many as 12 clubs here – the Classic League)

Region IV Cal South
Irvine Strikers, Nomads, Surf SC, Arsenal FC, Real SoCal, (as many as 12 clubs here – the CSL Premier).

Region IV Cal North & Hawaii
Honolulu SC, DVSC, Santa Clara Sporting, SCC Breakers, San Juan Spirit, Team 6

Region IV Pacific Northwest
Crossfire, Eastside FC, Washington club, FC Portland, Oregon club, Boise club

Region IV Rocky Mountains & Southwest
Colorado Rush, Colorado club, La Roca, Sereno SC, Arizona Club, Albuquerque United,

TDS & The Beautiful Game

2006-06-19T10:43:00.000-07:00

TDS & The Beautiful Game

There are more natives around the country than I realized. Yesterday, after the Brazil win, I braved the crowds for an exciting trip to our local Target, in Northern NJ. I was stunned, really, at the number of BRASIL shirts, and green and yellow garb. I got close to take a listen, and yes, they spoke Portuguese, or English with an accent. As my husband made his business trip to NYC last week, each block came thrillingly alive, depending on who was playing: little Korea had cops to direct traffic, because the fans were crowding the streets; Fox Sports World Espanol could be heard coming out of shops and restaurants. (I dare not frequent the local pizza joint for awhile, which has had the Azzuris on T.V. since before I knew what futbol was...).
Now, for a shameless plug but it serves the cause: if you want to get a flavor for the sort-of-coming-alive-will-you-let-the-Fred's-and-Rabinho's-start-already Brazilians, please check out (amazon.com, mittenpress.com and soon to be displayed in Barnes & Noble nationwide) and circulate info on the new children's book:
A Turn for Lucas

Back to Youth: Manchester United Premier Cup Draw

2006-05-25T21:44:00.000-07:00

(more of this article and the weekend's reports are available on www.topdrawersoccer.com)

BEAVERTON, OREGON - Following a festive opening ceremony and the tournament draw at the Tiger Woods Convention Center on the Nike campus, 40 teams from across the country are ready to begin the Manchester United Premier Cup.

This year's event, one of the most prestigious tournaments in the country, is featuring 1991 birth year players on the Boys side and U14 (Aug. 1 cutoff) teams on the Girls side.

Along with star name value, the event features a European tournament format (several shorter matches), a terrific field and the incentive of qualifying for an international tournament later this summer. The Boys winner will play in the international final later this summer in Manchester, England, while the Girls winner advances to the Gothia Cup in Sweden.

Top Drawer Soccer will be on hand for the duration of the event, with match reports each of the next 4 evenings.

The Draw: (2 teams out of 5 advance to quarterfinals - each teams plays 2, 50-minute matches on Friday and Saturday)

Girls

Group A: So Cal United, FC DELCO Sting, Bethesda Freedom, San Juan Spirit, Eclipse Select.

Group B: Surf SC, Lake Oswego SC, Vardarstars, Sereno SC, Dallas Texans.

Group C: Slammers SC, Crossfire Premier, Real Colorado, Irvine Strikers, NFC Tabagators.

Group D: So Cal Blues, PDA Fire, Lonestars Red, Mustang Spirit, Colorado Rush.

Boys

Group A: Surf SC, FC DELCO, Dallas Texans, Boston Bolts, Sockers FC.

Group B: So Cal United, Ohio FC Mutiny, Crossfire Premier, PDA, Concorde Fire.

Group C: Nomads, Scott Gallagher SC, Vardarstars, Bethesda Roadrunners, Irvine Strikers.

Group D: SFYSL Barcelona, Lake Oswego, Colorado Rush, Sereno SC, Arsenal FC.

World Cup 2006

2006-05-16T10:35:00.000-07:00

In the coming weeks we will begin a World Cup discussion on this blog. I am extending invitations to a number of people I hope will participate in breaking down the event from a fan perspective, with an eye toward the elite youth game in this country.

We can have a constructive and entertaining dialogue with a variety of viewpoints. This event is one that soccer fans should be celebrating, and whether they are novices or fanaticos about the international game, each of those invited share a genuine passion for the sport - so it should be fun.

U17 National Team advances to final at Ballymena

2006-04-26T15:32:00.000-07:00

The United States will contest the final of the Ballymena International Tournament against the Czech Republic on Friday, a repeat of last year’s showpiece, after they recorded a 2-0 victory over Northern Ireland this evening.

The States played for most of the match with ten men following the early sending off of Bryan Dominguez, but they went in front courtesy of a 25th minute tap in from Ellis McLoughlin and doubled their lead six minutes later when Sheanon Williams converted a penalty kick. Northern Ireland exerted a lot of pressure in the second half, but the U.S. dealt well with the host nation’s threat and held on for the vital win.

John Hackworth made three changes to the starting line-up following last night’s disappointing 3-3 draw with Finland. TJ Nelson and Brek Shea replaced Brandon Lee and Matthew Uy in the full-back positions and Kirk Urso was preferred in midfield ahead of Alex Dixon. But Coach Hackworth’s plans were dealt a blow within a minute when Bryan Dominguez was sent off for elbowing an opponent.

Despite that set-back, the U.S. forced an early corner when Ellis McLoughlin turned his defender before seeing his shot deflect behind. Ian Kails headed wide from the resultant set-piece.

Northern Ireland were presented with a decent opportunity after winning a free-kick on the edge of the U.S. penalty area in the 4th minute, but Pat McLaughlin’s left-footed effort sailed over the bar.

Tommy Meyer found himself in a good position on 8 minutes when, having stayed forward after a U.S. free-kick, he got on the end of McLoughlin’s hooked past but his shot was well off target.

The two sides continued to exchange chances. Ryan O’Neill firstly firing wide for the hosts following a poor clearance by Ian Kalis, then Brek Shea got on the end of a long throw from Williams, but there were no U.S. strikers on hand to take advantage of his header across goal. However, this was a tactic which was to serve the States well throughout the 1st half.

Williams went close with a header from an Urso free-kick on 22 minutes, his effort going just the wrong side of the post.

Paul Gallagher went within inches of giving the home side the lead sixty seconds later, but his sweet left-footed shot from 20yards, following fine approach work from Dean McCormick and William Faulkner, came back off the bar with Josh Lambo well beaten.

It was the States who broke the deadlock, however, on 25 minutes. Another long throw from Williams caused confusion in the Northern Ireland defence and on this occasion McLoughlin was on hand to tap home Shea’s flick on from close range. It was the first goal that Northern Ireland had conceded in the tournament.

The Ulstermen continued to create chances against the ten men and Brian McCaul fired just wide three minutes later. But they soon found themselves two goals down when, in the 31st minute, McLaughlin drew a foul from Nevin Spence inside the penalty area and Williams coolly converted the resultant spot kick.

Williams turned provider four minutes before half-time, holding the ball up well under pressure before laying it into the path of Jared Jeffrey, but the midfielder’s shot from 18 yards was high, wide and not particularly handsome.

Northern Ireland stepped up the pressure at the start of the 2nd period, but the States defended resolutely and dealt with all the hosts threw at them. Indeed, it was the U.S. who had the first real opportunity of the half, McLoughlin latching on to a pass from Williams and out-pacing and out-muscling Chris Ramsey before seeing his shot beaten away for a corner by Connor Devlin.

Northern Ireland piled on the pressure as the second half wore on but failed to create any real clear cut chances. Dean McCormick, who had netted five goals in the previous two games, was frustrated to see a 20 yard drive fly just over on 68 minutes, and that was about as good as it got for the host nation.

“The early sending off upset our game-plan a little,” Coach Hackworth admitted after the game, “but in a crazy way it helped us. We settled down quickly and played good soccer throughout. We thought this was going to be a physical game, but we settled into out rhythm and even with ten guys we attacked well.

“We did a really good job defensively,” he continued. “I would have liked us to have played a little more soccer in the 2nd half, but under the circumstances we did well. We knew we had to win, and we were up against a good side. I thought they might have come at us even more in the second half and we might have had more chances to counter-attack, but it didn’t really work out that way. But congratulations to my players, tactically they were great and they communicated well and deserved the win.”

The Czech Republic qualified from Group B with a 100 per cent record, recording a 4-0 victory over Scotland this evening. The U.S. lost out narrowly to the Czechs in last year’s final and will be looking for revenge come Friday night.

“We haven’t had the chance to see them during this tournament,” said Coach Hackworth, “but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. We will go into the game with no preconceptions and we will just try to play our own game. It should be a great game and a fitting end to this tournament.”

Line-ups

USA: 1-Josh Lambo;, 4-TJ Nelson, 6-Brek Shea, 5-Ian Kalis, 3-Thomas Meyer; 9-Sheanon Williams, 8-Kirk Urso, 7-Danny Wenzel, 14-Jared Jeffrey; 15-Bryan Dominguez, 10-Ellis McLoughlin

Subs not used: 2-Brandon Lee, 11-Jesse Paredes, 12-Alex Dixon 13-Matthew Uy, 16-Brandon Zimmermann, 17-Brandon Tarr, 18-Chris Miller

Northern Ireland: 1-Connor Devlin; 2-Andrew King, 5-Nevin Spence, 6-Patrick McLaughlin (7-Chris Curran, 32mins) 4-Chris Ramsey; 12-Kenny Keys, 11-Paul Gallagher (18-George Stewart, 60mins) 14-Brian McCaul (8-Eunan O’Kane, 56mins), 19-Ryan O’Neill; 9-Dean McCormick, 10-William Faulkner

Subs not used: 3-Richard Vauls, 16-Jonathan Sergeant, 15-Michael McCrudden, 17-Declan Bunting, 18-George Stewart

USA Player by Player

1-Josh Lambo (goalkeeper) – Dealt admirably with a couple of cross but it was a credit to the defenders in front of him that he was mostly untested this evening.

4-TJ Nelson (right-back) – Playing his first minutes of the tournament, Nelson performed solidly. Positioning was good and he made some good interceptions.

6-Brek Shea (left-back) – Defended stoutly and was a menace in the opposition half. The target for Williams’ superb and dangerous long throw ins, the tall defender won most of the aerial duels and assisted on McLoughlin’s opener.

5-Ian Kalis (center-back) – Far more solid performance from Kalis tonight. Passing was far better than last night and he and Meyer did well to snuff out the threat of tournament top scorer Dean McCormick.

3-Thomas Meyer (center-back) – As per usual, good in the air. Part of an excellent defensive unit this evening.

14-Jared Jeffrey (wide midfield) – Worked hard once more. Defended well and offered support when the U.S. were counter-attacking.

9-Sheanon Williams (wide midfield) – Back to his best tonight. Worked his socks off and was more productive in his use of the ball. Calmly rolled home his penalty kick.

7-Danny Wenzel (center-midfield) – Quiet but effective. Made some good tackles and was a calming influence in the middle. Again demonstrated a nice range of passing.

8-Kirk Urso (center-midfield) – Worked hard throughout and delivered some excellent set-pieces.

15-Bryan Dominguez (forward) – Sent off, perhaps harshly, after only a minute’s play. Will now miss Friday’s final.

10-Ellis McLoughlin (forward) – Played up front on his own for most of the evening and put in a great shift. A real handful for defenders, McLoughlin has excellent close control, and is deceptively quick and powerful. Calm under pressure, he took his goal well and forced a rash challenge from a Northern Ireland defender to win the penalty.

National League 17 signals new effort by top clubs to create quality nationwide competition

2006-03-22T13:44:00.000-08:00

As the elite youth soccer landscape in this country continues to shift, one of the most significant developments of all could be the formation of a new competition by some of the most prominent clubs in the country.

Dubbed “National League 17,” the competition is a round robin event to be played across the country over the course of a season. The inaugural competition will begin this fall, running through the spring.

Operating only for U17 Boys in its initial offering, the league is the brainchild of directors of coaching and others at the following 13 clubs:

Arsenal FC (Southern California), Atlanta Fire, CASL (North Carolina), Chicago Magic, Colorado Rush, Dallas Texans, FC DELCO (Eastern Pennsylvania), Irvine Strikers (Southern California), Nomads (Southern California), PDA (New Jersey), Scott Gallagher SC (St. Louis), Sockers FC (Illinois) and Solar SC (Texas).

In speaking with many of the principals involved in the league’s formation, quality of competition and alleviating a crowded playing calendar were common themes as to the impetus behind the effort.

CASL director of coaching Jay Howell said discussions have gone on over the past year, with more intensive sessions at last November’s CASL Shootout and at a U18 National Team camp in Bradenton Florida earlier this month, also involving U.S. Youth National Team coaches Bob Jenkins and John Hackworth.

Here’s what has been agreed thus far:

For many more details and comments from a number of the principals involved in the league's formation, go to www.topdrawersoccer.com

How We Develop Players Article 4: The Proper Role of Parents

2006-02-28T20:00:00.000-08:00

(Editor’s Note: The author has been a parent and coach of high-level college and club players.)

The proper role for parents in elite youth soccer is an important issue facing the game today. It’s not an exaggeration to say that failure to understand that role, is one of the biggest problems facing youth soccer in America.

Because we have a pay-to-play system, parents are likely to feel that they have special rights compared to parents of youth players in the rest of the world. That is ironic because most parents here are probably less likely to understand the game very well, compared to parents in other countries who do understand it, but generally don’t get involved.

I think there are three things parents should try to remember as their kids go through the elite youth soccer experience: 1) The importance of being realistic; 2) The importance of supporting the coach in his mission TO DEVELOP PLAYERS; and 3) Knowing the right way to make a change, should the time come for change.

The importance of being realistic

As great as it is to see how popular soccer has become around the country, popularity is not necessarily a better thing when it comes to understanding what the proper role of parents in elite soccer really is. Years ago, when you were on a Select/Travel/Elite soccer team it really meant something. You truly had to be of a certain caliber to be on this type of team.

Today, as long you pay, pretty much anybody can be on a Select team. It would be pretty unique if you wanted to have your child play Select and couldn’t find a team to take you on. So this “popularity” pretty well dilutes the idea of being on a Travel team.

If player development was truly going on everywhere, it would be wonderful to have all these teams, but you have to be realistic and say that’s not the case. Neither coaches nor players are automatically high quality just because they are playing on a Select or Travel team.

I think by default a lot of parents think their child is the next Mia Hamm or Pele when they get started. When kids are 8, 9, 10 and you ask them where they’re going to college, any boy says Indiana or UCLA and any girl says North Carolina – but a lot of parents at that age really think that’s what will happen. But in reality, even very good players may not get that chance.

You can choose to support your coach in making your child a better player, or you can decide that your child is better than all of that. It’s not hard to find parents from the latter group and they have a way of making their presence felt on sidelines and on road trips that is not always very pleasant.

And to be fair, there are a certain number of coaches coaching travel soccer simply because there are parents willing to pay for their child to be involved in travel soccer. It’s important to find a club that knows the difference.

So parents need to be realistic about where their kid really fits in. They need to be honest about what they can realistically expect their child to achieve, and that should tell them something about how much time and money to invest. It’s important from that end to make sure they can find an honest coach who is not just going to tell them what they want to hear – and it’s important for them to accept an honest answer.

2. The importance of supporting the coach in his mission TO DEVELOP PLAYERS

Soccer teams set out to win matches. They always have and they always will. But at the youth level the primary mission of a good coach is to make his players better. That’s not a completely separate concept from the goal to win games. Good players are who help teams win games after all, but at these younger ages, coaches should mostly be teaching and players mostly learning.

A common problem with parents is that the only way they know how to judge what the coach is doing is to see if the team won or lost, and that’s a big mistake.

One of my sons played on a very successful team that won the national championship for an older age group. What people probably don’t know is that some times when the team was younger, the team’s coach made it clear that them learning how to play the game was more important than their winning a given game. The team did win a lot, but I remember the coach would sometimes tell the team as they came off the field in a game where they had beaten, that had done well because they worked on the very thing he wanted.

He told them he would rather see them lose the game and play well, then to kill a team and sacrifice what he was teaching them. He made that clear to those kids, and this all paid off in the end. That team learned how to play, the players learned and they won a national championship. As many players as wanted to were able to go on and play college soccer.

But if the parents had gotten all worked up about the scores of some of those games when they were younger, it never would have worked. At our club there is an unwritten rule about how parents are to act, and you don’t hear much on their sideline. So the club has to set the tone. But again, you have to find the right coach and trust him.

Now along with not worrying so much about winning, compared to learning, a parent also needs to make sure he or she is not interfering in the real nitty gritty of the coaching decisions. Again, parents often feel that because their child is so great (in their eyes) and because they are paying the bill, they have some natural right to get involved, but in truth, that is the worst thing they can do. The parent’s job is to support the coach in his efforts.

In our family, our kids have played for us and for other coaches. My husband and I both have a good soccer background. If we really want to, we could coach, but if you make the decision to let someone else coach your child, you had better go all the way and let them do it. We’ve told coaches “You are the coach, we’d just like to watch.” You have to get to a point where once you make a decision to put your kid on the team, you are going to trust the coach.

You can do this both within the parent group on your team and with your own child.

We see parents complaining about this or that decision all the time. A common complaint is over what position the child is playing. I’ve had parents try to get me riled up as a parent because my child wasn’t playing as much or wasn’t playing a certain position.

I try to answer by saying things like “I like him being versatile. I ‘m impressed that he can play more than one position. Now we both had coaching backgrounds but we didn’t want to be interfering in that role. I think it’s logical to think that parents who don’t have any soccer background should also let the coach do their job. Yes you’re paying a lot of money, but that’s just the way the game works in this country. It still doesn’t help if parents are getting involved with the coach’s decisions.

You can help set a tone as a parent by not getting involved in these little beehive discussions where a coach’s decision in a U12 game gets treated like a decision to double the income tax or something. Remember, his job is to coach, and you need to support him in that.

Otherwise, you’ll drive yourself crazy over ‘my son should play a different position’ or ‘my daughter should play more,’ or whatever the case may be. You have to remember that the team plan does not revolve around your child.

As I said, the other way you can really help support the coach is in reinforcing his work with your own child. You should encourage your children to whatever potential the coach is encouraging them toward. If your child gets in the car after practice and says “coach said I need to do this and that, then you need to trust it and say that’s a good thing.

So many times, I’ll hear a parent leaving the field with their child and saying something like “He’s an idiot. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” Now how is a coach going to have a chance with a player if his parents are talking about him like that?

3. Knowing the right way to make a change

Ultimately you have to have faith in your child’s coach, or your child shouldn’t be playing. Letting go of that level of control is one of the hardest things for a parent.

But it’s also true that there are very real reasons for a player to leave a team. You may have a genuinely talented player whose ambitions lie above those of his teammates. With there being so many travel teams now, some teams may have a foot firmly planted in rec soccer mentality, while others may be looking for every competitive and developmental opportunity. As your child gets older, you don’t want to be unequally yoked.

But there’s a right way to go about this. It’s a good chance to model something for your child as far as handling yourself professionally, being honest and sincere. Too often soccer team switches are conducted by parents like some political deal in a smoke-filled back room. Too often team moves end up being like nasty church splits, business breakups or messy divorces. If you are looking after the best interest of your child you can be discreet without being sneaky.

The best rule of thumb to follow is to be up front about everything. If you have different goals than your teams, just recognize it and find the right opportunity. You also should concentrate on your own child. If another situation is better for your son or daughter, you don’t have to try and convince half of the team you are on to do the same thing. Let people make up their own minds.

If people on the team you are leaving start sniping over your decision, just let it go. To do otherwise is simply to get your child embroiled in a controversy that will only detract from their enjoyment of the game, and their chance to succeed at it.

Summary

Now I know none of this is as easy as it sounds. But it really is a pretty simple formula You need to be realistic about goals. You need to find a coach who can do the work of training a player, and trust them, and always remember that there is a right way of going about it when changes have to be made.

This experience should be a healthy thing. Let yourself and your child enjoy it. If the child can feel good about the role they are playing, they are going to learn more and play better. You should see yourself as much more of a custodian than a driver in the process. They are still “your” kids of course, but that doesn’t make you a soccer expert.

It’s so much more simple and enjoyable for you to watch your child play when you’re taking it a year at a time and keeping it in perspective Yes there are exceptions when you know something is wrong and you have to move on, but you have to trust for it to have a chance. It’s very sad how so many parents it takes until their kids are 15 or 16 before they realize they were spending all this time stressed out.

If we’re going to spend all this time and money on this, we might as well enjoy it along the way.

How We Develop Players Article 1 - Major League Soccer to get involved - and a national league too?

2006-02-09T11:08:00.000-08:00

Segments from an article now on www.topdrawersoccer.com

It’s difficult to predict how much elite youth soccer in American is about to change, but the things being talked about at the highest levels of the sport in this country, would result in something close to a metamorphosis.

Major League Soccer is set to begin bona fide youth development programs in 2007, and adidas and U.S. Youth Soccer are among those entities working on the establishment of an elite national youth league, one that might include these professional youth teams.

On top of that there are a handful of ambitious new stand-alone academy-type programs that would also serve to raise the bar as to what the most talented and ambitious youth players in America might expect to be available to them in terms of top-quality training and competition.

By way of background, as the game has become increasingly popular in this country, there has been no professional involvement with elite youth player development. This is contrary to the most established and successful soccer-playing countries in the world, where youth development is handled by the vast network of professional clubs that make up what in those countries, is the most popular and commercially viable sport.

European and South American clubs have long had youth setups by which top players are trained from early ages, for the purpose of someday being a candidate to play for the professional team, or to be sold to another club (player transfers in other countries are most often done through straight purchases, rather than the trades you see in American sports – for many clubs these transfer fees are an important part of economic livelihood).

But in the U.S. there was no high-level professional league during the period that the youth game was beginning to explode here. Then when MLS begin in 1996, it was by necessity on sustenance and survival mode, weathering the storms inherent to entering an already-crowded and fickle American sports market. Player payroll was less than $2 million per team per year, so the substantial investment needed to start a high-quality youth development system was not available.

In the meantime, the demand for greater opportunity by top-level youth players and their families was only growing. The ambition to pursue college scholarship dollars was becoming greater all the time, and an increasing number of players were looking at how they might have a chance to break into the professional game in their teenage years, more in keeping with the more common age of entry by their counterparts around the world.

The developmental system in the U.S. during those years could best be described as a Wild West motif. The prairies were wide open for clubs to form and begin a youth development empire. Many of these clubs have attained a very high reputation, particularly for competing for the various state, regional and national titles that exist in this network. Over time some of them have become very good at building teams, training players and providing those players opportunities at the next level (usually college soccer).

The elite of the elite would be entered into the Olympic Developmental Program, which provides some extremely attractive competitive opportunities, but typically just 3 or 4 times year at the regional level. An even smaller group could compete with youth national teams, but save for 40 players at the U17 National Team residency program in Bradenton, Florida, these opportunities also are few and far between.

As the sophistication of the American youth soccer marketplace has grown, so has an awareness that the system has not reached a full maturity yet, especially when it was compared to what goes on overseas. While culture, history and other factors contribute to this disparity, most observers ultimately point to the lack of professional involvement as the main ingredient lacking in the drive to get from A to B as a soccer nation.

“The next step is to develop our own talent, to prepare young players to become young professionals,” MLS youth guru Alfonso Mondelo said “Youth soccer and college soccer have been doing a lot to help develop players, but really this is not the way to develop the best players. Until now college has really been the highest goal, but as more players see this as a possible career, if players want to pursue that then have to pursue it in a different way. The difference between MLS and the college game is growing year by year. It’s becoming more difficult to step out of college and compete in MLS. Those players need to step into an environment where they train like professionals from a younger age.”

(Editor’s Note – as part of this series of articles, we will include in a few weeks a feature on the role of college soccer in American player development).

The thought of a transition to professional youth setup naturally conjures questions, so we asked a number of these to Mondelo.

What would it look like

Mondelo: “We already have an initiative for teams to develop players, so that if they spend a couple of years in their system, they’ll be able to go directly to the first team without risking the rights to that player in the draft, or if they choose to go overseas, some financial reward will go to the individual club. This wouldn’t be centralized. It will be up to each individual club to spend as much or as little as they see fit. We’d like to see every club be involved, but I’m sure some for one reason or another will take more proactive stepsthan others to develop this.”

(Editor’s Note: the increasing interest from European clubs in signing top American youth players – Lee Nguyen and Preston Zimmerman are recent examples; definitely have spurred MLS into action on this, as the lost potential revenue has to get their attention).

Where would the players come from?

Mondelo: “Originally we may use regionalized pools, but in the long run, the teams should each start a scouting network. Over the longer term we may be able to look at providing schools for the players to attend, but at first we would probably have to work within a radius of 50 to 100 miles for each club. This would definitely not be a pay for play initiative. We truly need to find the best talent available to reach our clubs. In that respect it would differ drastically from the current youth soccer setup which as you know, is mostly pay for play.”

How would teams be formed?

Mondelo: “We would probably begin with U15 and U17 teams, to provide a place to play for 4 years.”

What would be the status of players after their youth years?

Mondelo: “Of course some of these would go to college, but we need to maintain continuity during and after that time. Maybe they could be set up with PDL teams (college summer league run by United Soccer Leagues) in the summer. That would be a natural step. Most of our clubs have a local PDL franchise. So the players we’ve developed with our system, while some may choose to go college route, clubs will retain rights to those players”

(Editor’s Note: The league will have to work out some things with the NCAA, which strictly governs the amount of time college players can spend training together in the off season, including with PDL. One possible solution would be for the youth professional system to come under the branding of ODP, which already receives several exemptions from rules governing professional contact and training time.)

Why would the program be better?

Mondelo: “The emphasis in our program has to be the technical and tactical development of players, to make more complete players who are more attractive for the fans of our clubs to watch. It is not important for these youth teams to go out and win against every team that they play. We want to develop them, to fine tune th eirskills, and create complete players. There’s too much emphasis on winning in youth soccer now. On top of that, some of the so-called superclubs seem have to enter every tournament and compete to win, because if they don’t, somebody else will win. Winning becomes more important than the actual quality of player development. We find that youths are often playing 70-100 games a year. There’s no time for development there if they playing games every 3 or 4 days. That’s why there’s such a high turnover ratio when players get to be 15 or 16, they’ve spent all their weekends, not to mention their parents’ money, at tournaments. These players often don’t even remain as fans of the sport.”

(Mondelo added that continued building of proper facilities will be a vital aspect of this initiative, noting that “if the facilities aren’t any better than what they already have, it won’t any better.”)

What will be the relationship with existing youth clubs?

Mondelo: “Again, this is up to individual teams. They should look to work with local clubs. They won’t be a competitor (on the field). There’s no need for MLS developmental teams to compete in the State Cup for instance. We’re concerned with the top 1 or 2 percent of top travel players, those who truly have the potential to develop into professional and national team players. I’m sure there will be a little resistance at first, but we want to see ways clubs can work and affiliate with those local systems. We want to work out a way where those clubs can be compensated in some form or made to feel a part of process.”

What would be the competitive outlet for these teams?

Mondelo: We will find a league we hope will have the highest quality. The emphasis is not quality but quantity. It may be that we compete within the existing structure of regional leagues. That could be a starting point. Maybe aside from that there could be an MLS-only competition, a tournament and training camp that takes place over a couple of weeks.”

What would the training and competitive schedule look like?

Mondelo: This will vary from team to team. Ideally it will become year-round program, but if not, maybe a way to start is for the players to compete with their local club for part of the year, then with a higher level league with the MLS club. There’s not one way it would work for every MLS club.

What we would want to control is the number of games played, and guiding players to what competition they should be looking at. Remember, these are regional and national team caliber players. Playing in a bunch of tournaments with 5 or 6 games in a weekend wont’ benefit them at all. We’d like a 30 to35 game schedule, and maybe 1 or 2 high-level tournaments. That would suffice for competition and then there would be good training all the way through. These players would be learning to understand how the game is played, with more emphasis on precision and execution.”

Do you think the marketplace is ready for this?

Mondelo: “No doubt the more we understand professional soccer, the more a natural evolution process keeps taking place, there will be more understanding of why this is needed. More and more this will take place. Remember that not everyone in these programs will become a professional, but they’ll have a higher understanding of the game when they leave and this will improve the quality of college soccer as well.”

Who will be directing and coaching these programs?

Mondelo: “The clubs would have directors of coaching. This would include former players and guys who have been coaching in the youth game. Remember that the way to measure success is the number of players brought into the first team, not how many wins they are getting in those youth games. Every year you want to see 1 or 2 players in the program able to compete for spots in the first team. This can be done with former players who truly want to educate themselves and prepare themselves to coach, or someone who hasn’t been playing lately but has a proven track record for developing players. Ideally you want to create an affliation with the staff so these guys are not being bounced around from place to place.”

What is the timetable for beginning?

Mondelo: “In some way shape or form, something will be going by 2007. If we can get the vast majority of teams in place by 2007, we’ll kickoff, then progress from there. We realize this is a long term project and it won’t be perfect overnight, but we have some goals and some ideas on how we want to progress. We’re ready to kickoff either in existing regional leagues, or in the USL.”

(Much more on this and a national league on www.topdrawersoccer.com

Is the Game the Thing?

2006-02-09T05:51:00.000-08:00

Everywhere I look, I am told that letting the kids "be themselves" is the key to coaching success.

A prominent national soccer magazine clucks at coaches who turn players into "passing robots." Let them be, is the cry! Two pages later, I read about boring skill drills that chase players away from the game. OK, there goes teaching tactics and there goes teaching technique. What is left for the coach, you ask? "The game is the thing!"

I admit, this puzzles me.

First, if the game is the thing, then why bother with coaching licenses and credentialed trainers? Soccer coaches are the most licensed, formally trained coaches on this planet. It is quite ironic, then, that their task appears to be to roll a ball out and let the kids learn on their own.

Second, is this really how they train at Ajax or Gremio? Something tells me no. Something tells me that while scrimmages are a part of their training as well, there is also heavy emphasis on perfecting already-good techniques, and on team tactics, particularly attacking tactics. You don't get coordinated, synchronized off-the-ball movement like the Dutch and Brazilian national teams show just because kids are playing a lot. You get that by learning something that is taught.

Finally, it is peculiar that the U.S. demonstrates its new soccer sophistication by dispensing of formal training. In basketball, the Europeans and South Americans went exactly the opposite direction when attempting to pull their countries forward, to become sophisticated basketball nations. They instilled more formal coaching approaches than was the U.S. fashion. More drills. More instruction. Does anybody doubt the effectiveness of that decision? In 15 years, the top overseas countries have come from being 40 point losers to U.S. professionals to being true competitors who can knock off the U.S. on a given day.

I understand the impetus to make the game the thing. Too many bad coaches controlling their kids, wasting U11 practice team on set plays, and so forth. Better just to play the game than to put up with that. But let's be clear -- making the game the thing is an improvement over the bad, but it fails to measure up to the truly good. It's a helpful step forward for U.S. youth soccer -- but it's also a sign that we have further ground to cover. To become an elite youth soccer country, we need to take the next step forward. We need to make "the game is the thing" feel like the limited slogan that it is.

Quavas Kirk - wanted in 2 countries

2006-01-26T18:37:00.000-08:00

Life is coming at Quavas Kirk pretty quickly these days.

The U17 National Team and LA Galaxy forward has received an invitation to a pre-World Cup training camp held by the full national team of Trinidad & Tobago. Kirk who is eligible to play for T&T via his dad having been born there, is taking the offer seriously, although health issues may make the question moot, for now.

The invite illustrates how the success of the U.S. Soccer Federation’s youth national team program, most notably the Bradneton Residency setup for the U17 National Team, has had an unintended affect. Other countries are now looking to acquire U.S. players for their own squads.

Freddy Adu, who now plays for Major League Soccer’s D.C. United, never played for any soccer organization in Ghana. He was eight years old when his family moved to the U.S. His ascent through the youth ranks of soccer began a year later. He spent two years in the prestigious Bradenton, Florida program the same program that helped develop Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley and Eddie Johnson. Adu has already represented the U.S. in the U17 World Championships in Finland, in the U20 championships in the United Arab Emirates in 2003 and last year’s version of the same event in Holland.

Nevertheless, Ghana’s soccer federation made overtures to the young player about joining their team. Adu has steadfastly repeated, however, that his dream is to play in the World Cup for the United States.

Perhaps Ghana has given other countries a new idea, though. Trinidad and Tobago recently selected the U17 National Team player Kirk for a pre-World Cup training camp that coach Leo Beenhakker is holding in Florida.

Kirk said Thursday outside the Galaxy training ground in Carson, California he was considering the offer to join the Trinidadian team. The camp he was invited to, however, is not likely to be an option.

The rest of this story, including comments from Kirk, LA Galaxy coach Steve Sampson and U17 National Team coach John Hackworth - is available at www.topdrawersoccer.com for a $4 monthly subscription.

Preston Zimmerman signs with Hamburg

2006-01-11T08:49:00.000-08:00

U17 National Team forward Preston Zimmerman has reached agreement with Bundesliga side Hamburg SV on a 3-year deal to begin his professional career wtih the German club.

Zimmerman returned home to Pasco, Washington Tuesday after traveling to Germany with his parents and agent Lyle Yorks to finalize the deal.

Zimmerman turns 18 in November and cannot be registered or paid as a professional until then, but he will train with the club's 2nd team, which competes in the German Regional League North (3rd tier).

"I will go over for 3 months at a time, train with the club and then come back until I can get a new visa," Zimmerman said. "I'm eligible to play in anything except official league and Cup matches."

Zimmerman said he will join the training setup in a couple of weeks, coinciding with the team's return to play after the winter break.

Further details and comments on Preston Zimmerman's new pro deal, along with news and comments from other Bradenton Residency players who have signed pro contracts, will be available shortly on Top Drawer Soccer at www.topdrawersoccer.com

15 new faces at Bradenton Residency

2006-01-06T16:38:00.000-08:00

The names of 15 new players who will begin attendance at the U17 National Team’s residency program in Bradenton, Florida, have been released.

Twelve of the 15 players are 1990 birth year players, joining 13 90s who were already present. For the first time in the program, no players were sent home from residency, something made possible due to the large number of 88 players leaving following the FIFA World Championship, and some 1989 birth year players who have finished their schoolwork early and are preparing for professional and college playing opportunities.

Three 1991 birth year players, Irvine Strikers’ forward Dersu Abolfathi, Concorde Fire forward Brian Dominguez and Wings forward Abdusalem Ibrahim will also begin training at the Florida facility, located on the campus of IMG Academy.

In fact, nearly all 15 of the players coming in are attacking players, with Texas center back TJ Nelson the only out and out defender of the group. This is something U17 National Team coach John Hackworth said was somewhat, but not entirely, by design.

“We weren’t necessarily focusing on forwards in our scouting, but we do feel we have to be better in the final third as a team, and we also have to improved our flank play,” Hackworth said. “Our goal each time we call players in is to try and get the best available players, and a lot of those players turned out to be attacking players. What they become when they get here sometimes is much different than what they are as a club team.”

Hackworth noted that among defensive starters for the U.S. at the most recent U17 World Championship, Amaechi Igwe, Kevin Alston and Blake Wagner all came to residency as forwards or midfielders. Eric Lichaj, a starter for most of the last cycle who was injured before the FIFA event, was also an attacker with his club team Chicago Magic, as current Charlton Athletic player Jonathan Spector had been with Sockers FC before going to Bradenton, where he became a center back.

“We don’t look at them so much by position as we do potential to be elite soccer players,” Hackworth said. “We teach the principles of the game, not by position. “Of course we do functional training which is position-specific, but in the end we want them to be well-rounded in all areas of game. The basic concept in our training is based on principle of game.

“Then very naturally you see players gravitate to one place or another. It’s always really interesting to see that happen,” he continued. “That’s how Quavas Kirk beca,e a wide-right guy for us. He was a forward but he kind of gravitated toward wide positions at times. Then Kevin Alston began to drift in support of Quavas. I would suspect and hope some of the guys coming in will make similar moves.

The 90 group came in with a lot of promise following good results with the U15 National Team and also over the summer, but has struggled for results since entering Bradenton, only recently snapping an eight-match winless streak.

Hackworth said he still has high hopes for the group, and finds the difficulties somewhat understandable.

“The main difference, when you look at the tournament results from Japan or England, is that they had 89s playing with them,” he said. “Those guys had already been in Residency for a year or more. Then, a lot of the best players in the age group, like (Oklahoma defender) Christian Ibeaghea, (Maryland forward) Israel Sesay, (New Jersey midfielder) Walter Hines and some others, the guys are not citizens, so we can’t take them.”

Of the new 90s, Houston’s Alex Dixon is probably the best known, having impressed in matches against Brazil at the Nike Friendlies and 1989 regional teams at the Disney Showcase during his trial. Dixon has great speed on and off the ball.

“Alex definitely has a lot of potential, although he has a lot of work to do still,” Hackworth said. “That statement is generally true of everyone coming in, but the expectations for Alex may be a little higher because of what we’ve seen from him already.”

Of the other 88s, goalkeepers Larry Jackson of De Anza SC in Northern California and Chris Miller of Dallas Texans join resident #1 Josh Lambo from Chicago Magic. Another notable is Crossfire Premier midfielder Brandon Zimmerman, younger brother of outgoing U17 National Team forward Preston Zimmerman

All three 91s are also highly-regarded attacking players, with Abolfathi being a contributor with his U19 club team at Irvine Strikers, and Dominguez generally regarded as the best player in the age group.

New players now at U17 National Team – courtesy US Soccer

Dersu Abolfathi F 5'8" 145 02/24/91 Irvine, Calif. Irvine Strikers

Alex Dixon M/F 5'6" 120 02/07/90 Humble, Texas TSC Texans

Brian Dominguez F 5'2" 140 03/07/91 Atlanta, Ga. Concord Fire

Abdus Ibrahim F 5'8" 145 08/15/91 Richfield, Minn. Wing Nationals

Larry Jackson GK 5'11" 150 09/28/90 East Palo Alto, Calif. DeAnza Force

Tevin Jackson * M 5'10" 150 11/06/90 Baltimore, Md. Baltimore Bays

Axel Levry M/F 5'8" 155 03/12/90 Fort Washington, Md. Mclean FC

Chris Miller GK 6'0" 150 01/02/90 Garland, Texas Dallas Texans

Temistocles Molinar F 5'8" 130 07/29/90 Chandler, Ariz. Sereno SC

TJ Nelson D 5'8'' 145 12/16/90 Garland, Texas North Texas Strikers

Jesse Paredes * M 5'6" 120 04/01/90 Los Angeles, Calif. ISC Strikers

Dane Shea * M 6'2" 155 02/28/90 College Station, Texas Houston Texans

Matthew Uy * M 5'7" 145 03/22/90 New Hyde Park, N.Y. Blau Weiss Gottschee

Victor Yanez F 5'8" 160 05/15/90 Riverside, Calif. FC Manchester United (USA)

Brandon Zimmerman D/M 5'8" 160 10/06/90 Pasco, Wash. Crossfire Premier

Like this article? Many more on this subject and others related to youth soccer at www.topdrawersoccer.com

A Christmas Wish

2005-12-21T06:18:00.000-08:00

How do I make this thing work.

I want this blog to be a closely-moderated discussion forum for some talented and thoughtful people I have met in my travels - with an eye toward promoting the paid site of Top Drawer Soccer.

Challenges: 1) Time; 2) Complete lack of HTML ability; 3) Lack of exposure

I need someone to help me with the posting, and I need to find the time to round up people who can contribute something meaningful to the content. Then we need to spread the word about the free side of Top Drawer Soccer. Easier said than done, but doable.

Here's hoping good things happen in 2006. We need it.

Kickoff

2005-09-22T20:57:00.000-07:00

This blog is meant to be a vehicle for positive, constructive discussion about all things soccer, and particularly those subjects covered at Top Drawer Soccer.

A collection of thoughtful enthusiasts with a gift for communicating is being assembled.

Stay posted.