Coaching Youth Soccer Part 1

As a young youth soccer coach, I have benefited from my older more experienced peers. I have generally maintained the attitude of a sponge - I try to stay as open as possible and soak up any bit of information that flows my way. I have found that many coaches are very willing to open up and share their knowledge. With this attitude, I have made many contacts in the game, which have also allowed me to explore new and exciting options in coaching. However, my experience has also led me to understand a lot about the foundation of soccer in this country - the recreational level.



A study done by FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) indicates that of the 240 million people of all ages in the world who play soccer, over 18 million reside in the United States. Of this 18 million, only 360 play at the highest level, which is MLS (Major League Soccer) and another 154 play in the WPS (Women's Professional Soccer). Below that, only 520 play in the USL (United Soccer Leagues). The point I am trying to make is that out of those 18 million soccer players, which by the way ranks first in the world, the vast majority of them play recreationally. The hierarchy of soccer in this country is much like a pyramid, with most of the players forming the recreational base and fewer players at each additional level.

But with the most soccer players in the world, shouldn't we be winning world cups? Shouldn't we be killing teams like Germany, who have a mere 6.3 million soccer players? The problem lies in our youth development system. Countries like Germany have a much stonger infrastructure of academies and leagues associated with their professional teams. In the US, fewer than half of the professional teams have developmental youth teams. And even those that do have restrictions on how many players they can bring up to play for the full team. Ives Galarcep, a soccer blogger and reporter, has covered the New York Red Bulls and their successful academy team. He offers more on those resrtictions here. The dissolution of the reserve league in MLS further complicates matters, as now young players or college draft picks no longer are able to hone their skills. They either must make the first team or find another option.

Despite these problems at the top of the pyramid, the real focus should be the bottom. My opinion is that the coaching at the recreational level is subpar and has contributed to the United States poor showings in international competition. My coaching peers have been from all different backgrounds, from experienced career youth coaches to parents who have never played a minute of the game in their life. Unfortunately, the majority of the coaches in recreational soccer are those that do not know that game. The coaches that do go on to coach at a higher level, for the most part.

The problem is that we are not helping those parents who want to coach their children learn how to do it properly. The education provided by AYSO, for example, offers very little. Sure, it provides a few games to play in training, but it fails to paint the bigger picture. All coaches need to understand the structure of soccer in the US, how to organize a successful training session, how to observe games, how to involve every single player in all activities, etc. And my experience from AYSO taught me none of that. Because when it comes down to it, by giving each additional level better players to work with, we automatically improve the quality of the game in our country. And by doing that, we give our country a fighting chance to establish ourselves as a world power in soccer.