# Did anyone catch the US Soccer President Candidates Forum from Philadelphia?



## timbuck (Jan 22, 2018)

This past week/weekend was the United Soccer Coaches Annual Convention in Philadelphia.
I've seen some funny tweets for products being offered there. Someone is trying to market an over-sized hula hoop as a RondoRing for $70.
The announcement of the new coaching curriculum had some interesting dialogue also. 
I spent a few hours on Saturday morning watching the live stream of the 8 US Soccer President Candidates forum. It was pretty interesting.
At least 5 of them mentioned that the current federation is completely out of touch with what goes on within the 55 state federations. And that the recent changes to youth soccer (Age Groups, build out line, etc) were done without input from those at the youth level.
At least 5 of them mentioned that ODP should become a stronger part of the pathway along with DA.
Kyle Martino said "right now, we don't have a pathway. We have a game of "frogger" for kids/parents to navigate."
I think he was also the one that spoke about adding futsal goals to basketball courts across the country. He seemed to be a candidate that actually had some defined plans for change.
Eric Wynalada was pretty solid. He spoke very strongly about how US Soccer is out of compliance with 13 FIFA regulations. He spoke of solidarity payments. He spoke of changing the MLS calendar to be in-line with the rest of the world.
I missed Hope Solo's speech.
I really hope that Kathy Carter does not get elected.
I was surprised at how many candidates were very focused on the grass roots/youth game. It may have been because the audience was grass roots/youth coaches.

Based on what I saw (and I have zero insight into what it takes to run US Soccer), I'd love to see Kyle Martino and Eric Wynalda pair up and run the show together.


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## Dargle (Jan 22, 2018)

timbuck said:


> This past week/weekend was the United Soccer Coaches Annual Convention in Philadelphia.
> I've seen some funny tweets for products being offered there. Someone is trying to market an over-sized hula hoop as a RondoRing for $70.
> The announcement of the new coaching curriculum had some interesting dialogue also.
> I spent a few hours on Saturday morning watching the live stream of the 8 US Soccer President Candidates forum. It was pretty interesting.
> ...


Most of the platforms and proposals discussed reflect the fact that the Candidate's Forum was put on by US Youth Soccer.  ODP is run by state associations (the constituent members of US Youth Soccer), who all have votes in the upcoming election.  So, the focus on the youth game and the call for reviving ODP, while it may make sense in any event in a broadened funnel for scouting talent, is also about appealing to a voter group that was sponsoring the forum and presumably populating much of the audience.


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## younothat (Jan 22, 2018)

@ProRel4USsoccer @EricWynalda  @ProRelForUSA

Eric Wynalda is one of  the candidate that gets it....
https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/954810800929095680

I like Kyle Martino also but EW seems like he has more experience and he hasn't fully supported @ProRel4USsoccer  (is more concerned about the MLS businesses surviving)  so that gives me some pause but if they could team up yeah that would help in the fight vs the SUM insider KC.

"This is an insult. It is not a plan. No coincidence @*kylemartino* labeled it “potential roadmap” - and then buried it. It’s what happens when you consult with Don Garber for hours beforehand. #ProRelForUSA "


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## Simisoccerfan (Jan 22, 2018)

We might colonize Mars before they actually implement promotion and relegation in US Soccer.


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## espola (Jan 22, 2018)

Dargle said:


> Most of the platforms and proposals discussed reflect the fact that the Candidate's Forum was put on by US Youth Soccer.  ODP is run by state associations (the constituent members of US Youth Soccer), who all have votes in the upcoming election.  So, the focus on the youth game and the call for reviving ODP, while it may make sense in any event in a broadened funnel for scouting talent, is also about appealing to a voter group that was sponsoring the forum and presumably populating much of the audience.


ODP with an honest selection process and funded well enough so there is only minimal cost to the selectees is, on the surface at least, a better program than the current USSDA program that has been for the most part sold to the highest bidders.


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## timbuck (Jan 22, 2018)

Another candidate (maybe it was Paul Caliguiri or 1 of the 2 attorneys) said that they also wanted to make every high school coach a US National Team Scout.  I think the reason being that kids who play high school might be coming from leagues that aren't sanctioned by US Soccer today and are much cheaper to play in.


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## JoeBieber (Jan 22, 2018)

timbuck said:


> Another candidate (maybe it was Paul Caliguiri or 1 of the 2 attorneys) said that they also wanted to make every high school coach a US National Team Scout.  I think the reason being that kids who play high school might be coming from leagues that aren't sanctioned by US Soccer today and are much cheaper to play in.


There are approximately 37,000 high schools in the US. Whoever said that is a moron.


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## espola (Jan 22, 2018)

JoeBieber said:


> There are approximately 37,000 high schools in the US. Whoever said that is a moron.


Whoever thinks we can develop a real home-grown soccer culture while still excluding high school play from it is a moron.


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## JoeBieber (Jan 22, 2018)

espola said:


> Whoever thinks we can develop a real home-grown soccer culture while still excluding high school play from it is a moron.


Who said we should exclude high school players?


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## espola (Jan 22, 2018)

JoeBieber said:


> Who said we should exclude high school players?


USSDA, among others.


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## JoeBieber (Jan 22, 2018)

espola said:


> USSDA, among others.


Yes, so? Making 37,000 new US Soccer scouts is an incredibly idiotic response to that.


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## timbuck (Jan 22, 2018)

Many of the candidates mentioned high School soccer as being something that should be more important.  
Surprisingly, nobody that I heard mentioned anything about the college game. A few mentioned scholarship stuff. 
But nobody said anything about how making changes to our college game could impact the national team and domestic league play.


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## MWN (Jan 22, 2018)

timbuck said:


> This past week/weekend was the United Soccer Coaches Annual Convention in Philadelphia.
> I've seen some funny tweets for products being offered there. Someone is trying to market an over-sized hula hoop as a RondoRing for $70.
> The announcement of the new coaching curriculum had some interesting dialogue also.
> I spent a few hours on Saturday morning watching the live stream of the 8 US Soccer President Candidates forum. It was pretty interesting.
> ...


@timbuck, I didn't watch the candidates, but in the past a few hammered on the need to pay "training" and "solidarity" fees to the youth club.  Was this mentioned?

@espola and @JoeBieber, HS Soccer should be part of the discussion.  Its a mechanism where the "pay to play" model is thrown out.  While HS soccer teams might not give DA and ODP teams a run for their money, there are parts of the US where the DA and ODP are not effective, HS Soccer can fill an important development and identification role ... especially if we start to bring the HS coaches into the fold.  The problem with HS and College is they don't adhere to the Federation mandates and are separate entities.  From a personal perspective, my son's JV HS Soccer team (he is a 2003) plays much better than his Flight 2 Club team ever did.  In the world of HS Soccer you have basically two types of coaches: (1) Club Coaches with C, D and E licenses; and (2) the Science Teacher who coached his daughters Rec team.  Are there 50 to 100 kids with top level talent in the US that are not playing for the DA or ODP?  I'm sure there are.  Empowering HS Coaches to identify those players for additional training opportunities sounds like a smart thing to do.


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## futboldad1 (Jan 22, 2018)

I've done a lot of research on the candidates. Eric Wynalda is clearly the best choice to take US Soccer forwards. He doesn't represent the status quo like Kathy Carter who is Don Garber 2, while Kyle Martino talks out of both sides of his mouth.


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## espola (Jan 22, 2018)

JoeBieber said:


> Yes, so? Making 37,000 new US Soccer scouts is an incredibly idiotic response to that.


Please continue.


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## espola (Jan 22, 2018)

timbuck said:


> Many of the candidates mentioned high School soccer as being something that should be more important.
> Surprisingly, nobody that I heard mentioned anything about the college game. A few mentioned scholarship stuff.
> But nobody said anything about how making changes to our college game could impact the national team and domestic league play.


If a player is truly of national-team-candidate caliber, and has been identified as such by the time he is of age to enter college, a college program is not rigorous enough.  It's a short season, practice time is limited by NCAA regulations, and his true "job" is getting that degree, or at least making "progress" toward it so that he stays eligible and the school stays out of trouble.


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## timbuck (Jan 22, 2018)

futboldad1 said:


> I've done a lot of research on the candidates. Eric Wynalda is clearly the best choice to take US Soccer forwards. He doesn't represent the status quo like Kathy Carter who is Don Garber 2, while Kyle Martino talks out of both sides of his mouth.


Wynalda seems to have his stuff together and is coming at this from a high level view of what needs to be done.   
He has good vision. But I worry that without the right team in place to execute on that vision, his ideas may get stuck.  He has some radical changes in mind for the United State to compete on a global level.  I just hope that the US is ready for this.  He is a BIG proponent of Promotion/Relegation.  And while it sounds good on paper, I am not sure that our domestic league (MLS and whoever the 2nd, 3rd and 4th level teams will wind up being) are establish enough financially to support this vision.  With the MLS goals of expansion, maybe they should just worry about "Promotion" for now within MLS.  Have the 2nd/3rd/4th level leagues have their way with promotion and relegation immediately.  And maybe then let the top teams from the 2nd Division have first crack at becoming an MLS expansion team.


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## timbuck (Jan 22, 2018)

espola said:


> If a player is truly of national-team-candidate caliber, and has been identified as such by the time he is of age to enter college, a college program is not rigorous enough.  It's a short season, practice time is limited by NCAA regulations, and his true "job" is getting that degree, or at least making "progress" toward it so that he stays eligible and the school stays out of trouble.


You speak the truth.  But it is the pathway that many 18 year old players choose to take.  Why not try to enact some type of change at this level?  Our teams seems to be somewhat competitive internationally until about the age of 20-22.  If our college program had a longer season, better training and more exposure against top level clubs, we might be able to be 20% better.  20% better is very subjective, but would likely move the needle a bit on how competitive we are on an international level.  Have your "college season" and then have college teams play tournaments against U20 and U23 or 2nd teams from top clubs around the world.  It would give our domestic league better players.  And may open up more avenues for players to play in Europe.


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## Grace T. (Jan 22, 2018)

timbuck said:


> You speak the truth.  But it is the pathway that many 18 year old players choose to take.  Why not try to enact some type of change at this level?  Our teams seems to be somewhat competitive internationally until about the age of 20-22.  If our college program had a longer season, better training and more exposure against top level clubs, we might be able to be 20% better.  20% better is very subjective, but would likely move the needle a bit on how competitive we are on an international level.  Have your "college season" and then have college teams play tournaments against U20 and U23 or 2nd teams from top clubs around the world.  It would give our domestic league better players.  And may open up more avenues for players to play in Europe.


They could but that would mean more time on the playing field and less time in the classroom...that's not the function of college. 

If they really wanted to be attractive to that 18 year old considering between the safety of college, playing in Europe (complete with all the tax and immigration problems that come with it), or the MLS, the thing they should do is make the MLS more attractive to players by removing the salary caps.  Bradford Jameson, the sole homegrown player left on the Galaxy, makes about $65K and who knows how long his career will last...only the 3 DPs on a team make near European money...Jameson had to make a choice between playing for Berkeley or the Galaxy...if I were his parent, I'd probably say he chose poorly.  The salary caps exist to limit overall spending in the league and to ensure reasonably balanced teams (so no one team can become dominant by throwing money at the problem, like in Europe).  But as a result, US players are priced out of the market because their salaries are too low...the ones it works for are the players from Latin America and the Caribbean, who form such a large part of the non-DP slots of the MLS, because their cost of living is lower once they retire back home.  Removing the caps would also bring European talent to the US to allow them to play against the U.S. players....what if a U.S. team were competitive enough to go after a Ronaldo, for example?


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## timbuck (Jan 22, 2018)

You mean less time out of the classroom like basketball, football, baseball and hockey players?


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## Simisoccerfan (Jan 22, 2018)

JoeBieber said:


> Yes, so? Making 37,000 new US Soccer scouts is an incredibly idiotic response to that.


The quality of play in HS soccer is way below the level of play at the top of club soccer that it would  be a complete waste of time and resources.  Instead they should be focused at an earlier age and include alternative leagues especially the Hispanic leagues to find talent they are missing.


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## Dargle (Jan 22, 2018)

timbuck said:


> Many of the candidates mentioned high School soccer as being something that should be more important.
> Surprisingly, nobody that I heard mentioned anything about the college game. A few mentioned scholarship stuff.
> But nobody said anything about how making changes to our college game could impact the national team and domestic league play.


Another politics explanation - colleges are part of the NCAA and not under the FIFA/USSF umbrella.  Therefore, no one from the college world is a voter in the USSF elections.  So, promising changes to the college game is risky.  Promising things colleges will like won't get the candidates more votes and promising changes they wouldn't like might upset some non-college voters who have some interest and/or involvement in the college game.


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## JJP (Jan 22, 2018)

There’s no point scouting high school players until there’s an infrastructure in place to get kids a lot of touches in game conditions (futsal, street soccer) and proper coaching (coerver drills) when they are young.  Unless these 2 conditions are met the kids that are being scouted will have fundamental deficiencies with ball mastery that no amount of athleticism can cover up.


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## MWN (Jan 23, 2018)

JJP said:


> There’s no point scouting high school players until there’s an infrastructure in place to get kids a lot of touches in game conditions (futsal, street soccer) and proper coaching (coerver drills) when they are young.  Unless these 2 conditions are met the kids that are being scouted will have fundamental deficiencies with ball mastery that no amount of athleticism can cover up.


I think you are misunderstanding the realities of HS soccer is some of our rural and poorer communities.  You have kids that play HS and local adult leagues because they can't afford the "pay to play" system.  They play in the street and the park with their buddies, uncles, older brothers, etc..  They are outside the ODP and DA eyes because they don't play Flight 1 travel ball and nobody is visiting these parks and neighborhoods.  They don't need coerver drills because they get their touches by playing daily for the love of the sports like their European and Latin American cousins.  They live in cities, towns and communities that are often very poor and HS soccer is the first real opportunity to play organized ball.

What we need is an awareness by qualified HS coaches (not the science teacher ala soccer coach) to identify talent that may be slipping through the cracks and communicate the location of that talent to the Federation.


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## socalkdg (Jan 23, 2018)

As mentioned, each HS might have one or two players that have slipped through the cracks.   I don't think they are saying the HS teams are going to be as good as Flight 1 teams, but they may have that one special player that should get the attention of US soccer.


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## Chalklines (Jan 23, 2018)

JJP said:


> There’s no point scouting high school players until there’s an infrastructure in place to get kids a lot of touches in game conditions (futsal, street soccer) and proper coaching (coerver drills) when they are young.  Unless these 2 conditions are met the kids that are being scouted will have fundamental deficiencies with ball mastery that no amount of athleticism can cover up.


I'm with you on this but things are already changing for the younger generation coming up and not US soccer making the changes. 

These huge training facilitys are popping up throughout the nation that offer pick up Futsal multiple nights a week and high intensity training for peanuts on the dollar with actual proven professionals coaching with out fake accents and bad looking track suits. 

I'm interested in seeing results over the next 10 years because these facilities are hosting and catering to the youth. If your a committed athlete and grind from 6-16 years old in that type of environment, how can you not improve.


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## espola (Jan 23, 2018)

Chalklines said:


> I'm with you on this but things are already changing for the younger generation coming up and not US soccer making the changes.
> 
> These huge training facilitys are popping up throughout the nation that offer pick up Futsal multiple nights a week and high intensity training for peanuts on the dollar with actual proven professionals coaching with out fake accents and bad looking track suits.
> 
> I'm interested in seeing results over the next 10 years because these facilities are hosting and catering to the youth. If your a committed athlete and grind from 6-16 years old in that type of environment, how can you not improve.


Where?


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## galaxydad (Jan 23, 2018)

MWN said:


> I think you are misunderstanding the realities of HS soccer is some of our rural and poorer communities.  You have kids that play HS and local adult leagues because they can't afford the "pay to play" system.  They play in the street and the park with their buddies, uncles, older brothers, etc..  They are outside the ODP and DA eyes because they don't play Flight 1 travel ball and nobody is visiting these parks and neighborhoods.  They don't need coerver drills because they get their touches by playing daily for the love of the sports like their European and Latin American cousins.  They live in cities, towns and communities that are often very poor and HS soccer is the first real opportunity to play organized ball.
> 
> What we need is an awareness by qualified HS coaches (not the science teacher ala soccer coach) to identify talent that may be slipping through the cracks and communicate the location of that talent to the Federation.
> 
> ...


I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle- There is some amazing talent not playing club soccer and they need exposure. However, as JJP stated almost all of that talent have extreme flaws in their game due to only playing and not getting proper coaching (sadly many club players too but not as many)- 

deficiencies in uncoached players that is hard to correct at the HS age- 

Single footed player- There has been a lot of debate about single footed players so to clarify-  Players that is almost unwilling to play with their weak foot- If they over rely on their dominant foot  they cannot make it at the next level. Almost all players favor a foot and its OK to have a strongly dominant foot but one must be able to be at least proficient with both feet in today's game. 

Ability to properly collect a ball- They technically have never been forced to play across their body on most touches and it slows down play even for the best players. This often goes back to the above statement about a dominant foot. 

proper scanning of the field- LESS of an issue for those that just play and dont have formal training- BUT many player that havent been coached well have tunnel vision and that is hard to break. This one is one of the top indicators of next level success

Unspoken issue- Understanding commitment etc. - It takes training and discipline over time to ensure a player is willing to work, be early not just on time and to make training a priority.
There is so much talent  from all walks of life that that don't understand this one. One must learn to be committed at an early age or its hard to break.


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## timbuck (Jan 23, 2018)

galaxydad said:


> I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle- There is some amazing talent not playing club soccer and they need exposure. However, as JJP stated almost all of that talent have extreme flaws in their game due to only playing and not getting proper coaching (sadly many club players too but not as many)-
> 
> deficiencies in uncoached players that is hard to correct at the HS age-
> 
> ...



I think “commitment” to the game is more important than coaching.  And growing up in an inner-city soccer culture probably does more for vision/awareness than playing on a team that spends $300 every year on new Nike uniforms and has a coach with a resume of kid that have gone on to play in college. 

Not quite the same, but I don’t think Gabriel Jesus had an A licensed coach at the age of 12. He seems to be doing ok. 
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/gabriel-jesus-call-your-ma/?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=kw&utm_campaign=RSS&kwp_0=664527


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## JJP (Jan 23, 2018)

MWN said:


> I think you are misunderstanding the realities of HS soccer is some of our rural and poorer communities.  You have kids that play HS and local adult leagues because they can't afford the "pay to play" system.  They play in the street and the park with their buddies, uncles, older brothers, etc..  They are outside the ODP and DA eyes because they don't play Flight 1 travel ball and nobody is visiting these parks and neighborhoods.  They don't need coerver drills because they get their touches by playing daily for the love of the sports like their European and Latin American cousins.  They live in cities, towns and communities that are often very poor and HS soccer is the first real opportunity to play organized ball.


I’m going to disagree with you here on Coerver drills.  They are extremely efficient and one of the best ways to develop the weaker foot.  In countries like the US and Japan, I genuinely believe that Coerver drills are the only way to catch up to countries with a strong soccer culture.

If you grow up and play in the streets of France or Netherlands, the level of play is incredibly high and maybe you can learn just from playing.  But in the US, the level of competition is so weak you need to supplement with Coerver drills to build a top player.  I also believe that the best players all over the world practice a lot on their own and self-improve with Coerver drills.


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## coachsamy (Jan 23, 2018)

Whoever is going to be good is going to be good regardless of what Godsend coach they have. Drills, practices and structure are helpful but not everything. Coerver, ODP, ECNL, The Kool-Aid Cup(Pick your flavor), Whatever Showcase, etc are just business gimmicks to get a revenue from the customer (Parents) and has completely rotten the entire soccer system in the US. The kids that used to rely on playing high school to get some sort of exposure to college coaches lost that chance because all these scouts/coaches are sitting on a centralized location that caters to who can afford it.

The 3 highest paying sports in the US rely heavily on high school seasons to determine how goods these kids, but somehow soccer the least paying sport in the US has a business model to centralize recruiting through a horrid pay to play platform. I hope that Martino, Wynalda or Hope Solo gets elected and form a team to unify their ideas. 

I see that no one talks about Hope Solo, but she's the one that will break down the bullshit and corruption going on with US Soccer, she calls it as it is and that's what we need.


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## Grace T. (Jan 23, 2018)

JJP said:


> I’m going to disagree with you here on Coerver drills.  They are extremely efficient and one of the best ways to develop the weaker foot.  In countries like the US and Japan, I genuinely believe that Coerver drills are the only way to catch up to countries with a strong soccer culture.
> 
> If you grow up and play in the streets of France or Netherlands, the level of play is incredibly high and maybe you can learn just from playing.  But in the US, the level of competition is so weak you need to supplement with Coerver drills to build a top player.  I also believe that the best players all over the world practice a lot on their own and self-improve with Coerver drills.


I'd agree that Coerver drills are a great way to develop the weaker foot. They are also great for building innate ball handling skills (so a player just instinctually does something rather than to stop and think about it).  But they, just like banging on a wall or that rotating Ole soccer doohickey someone pointed out, are just tools for an end.  

So I think Coerver drills themselves are great, but the problem with the Coerver training program is that it teaches ball handling as the end all, be all of soccer.  In actuality it's only a small part.  The Coerver pyramid makes it the foundation and relegates finishing and defense to small portions, and the program gives little attention to either.  US players (particularly on the men's side, where as someone else pointed out, the change of direction is easier than on the women's side) rely too heavily on skill moves when they should be working on passing and receiving (on both feet) more.  And don't even get me started on their goalkeeper program.....


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## Grace T. (Jan 23, 2018)

coachsamy said:


> The 3 highest paying sports in the US rely heavily on high school seasons to determine how goods these kids, but somehow soccer the least paying sport in the US has a business model to centralize recruiting through a horrid pay to play platform. I hope that Martino, Wynalda or Hope Solo gets elected and form a team to unify their ideas.
> 
> .


That's been changing too.  Baseball and hockey are firmly on the club model.  Basketball is increasingly club, though enough schools still have great coaches that some programs are worth it, particularly out of the private schools.  One of the reasons for the change in the model was the result of No Child Left Behind and Common Core...since schools are judged on test results, they are funneling money increasingly into the tested subjects (math/grammar/spelling) and less into discretionary (art, music, sports).  So you have science teachers/basketball coaches who neither have the inclination nor the skills to continue their sports education (their salaries in any case aren't set by this) and the schools reluctant to plunk down money on real coaches (unless they are either private or have an established program already supported by the community and community fundraising).  Football is changing too, but much more slowly, and has other problems to it as well (see the Friday Night Tykes series).  The ability for a sport to thrive in high school after the academic changes seems to be related to whether it has an established community backing already willing to take on the costs.  While soccer (having the least community backing) made the transition to the club model the most rapidly, the trend has been there across all sports.


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## galaxydad (Jan 23, 2018)

timbuck said:


> I think “commitment” to the game is more important than coaching.  And growing up in an inner-city soccer culture probably does more for vision/awareness than playing on a team that spends $300 every year on new Nike uniforms and has a coach with a resume of kid that have gone on to play in college.
> 
> Not quite the same, but I don’t think Gabriel Jesus had an A licensed coach at the age of 12. He seems to be doing ok.
> https://www.theplayerstribune.com/gabriel-jesus-call-your-ma/?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=kw&utm_campaign=RSS&kwp_0=664527


I would be willing to bet he had someone emphasising these points. Don't need an A license coach to insist on these basic thing. Just need someone that pays attention to detail


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## JJP (Jan 23, 2018)

Grace T. said:


> So I think Coerver drills themselves are great, but the problem with the Coerver training program is that it teaches ball handling as the end all, be all of soccer.  In actuality it's only a small part.  The Coerver pyramid makes it the foundation and relegates finishing and defense to small portions, and the program gives little attention to either.


Well, what’s happening is that the kind of ball handling Coerver drills you can do on your own are pretty much limited to ball handling and 1 v 1.   It’s great for little kids because they aren’t going to pass anyway, so they may as well get good at playing keep away with the ball.

To practice the more complicated Coerver passing and receiving drills requires a bunch of skilled players and a coach who knows how to run those kind of drills, basically an academy level team and coach.

It’s why I say kids need to do tons of individual Coerver drills and play as much small sided pickup games as possible to develop their ball mastery and 1 v 1 before the best of them enter academy.  Once they enter academy there will be more emphasis on passing, receiving, finishing, shape, etc.  There won’t be enough time to catch up on ball mastery.


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## espola (Jan 23, 2018)

JJP said:


> Well, what’s happening is that the kind of ball handling Coerver drills you can do on your own are pretty much limited to ball handling and 1 v 1.   It’s great for little kids because they aren’t going to pass anyway, so they may as well get good at playing keep away with the ball.
> 
> To practice the more complicated Coerver passing and receiving drills requires a bunch of skilled players and a coach who knows how to run those kind of drills, basically an academy level team and coach.
> 
> It’s why I say kids need to do tons of individual Coerver drills and play as much small sided pickup games as possible to develop their ball mastery and 1 v 1 before the best of them enter academy.  Once they enter academy there will be more emphasis on passing, receiving, finishing, shape, etc.  There won’t be enough time to catch up on ball mastery.


What flavor was your koolaid?


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## Chalklines (Jan 23, 2018)

espola said:


> Where?


https://sportsacademy.us

Just one of many examples.


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## JJP (Jan 23, 2018)

coachsamy said:


> Whoever is going to be good is going to be good regardless of what Godsend coach they have. Drills, practices and structure are helpful but not everything. Coerver, ODP, ECNL, The Kool-Aid Cup(Pick your flavor), Whatever Showcase, etc are just business gimmicks to get a revenue from the customer (Parents) and has completely rotten the entire soccer system in the US.


You have a point but you are off base in bashing Coerver as a money maker.  You can get quality soccer DVD sets for less than a $100 where they break down and show you moves, Wall ball drills, cone drills, and these drills work incredibly well.  Totally worth the money.



> The kids that used to rely on playing high school to get some sort of exposure to college coaches lost that chance because all these scouts/coaches are sitting on a centralized location that caters to who can afford it.
> 
> The 3 highest paying sports in the US rely heavily on high school seasons to determine how goods these kids, but somehow soccer the least paying sport in the US has a business model to centralize recruiting through a horrid pay to play platform. I hope that Martino, Wynalda or Hope Solo gets elected and form a team to unify their ideas.
> 
> I see that no one talks about Hope Solo, but she's the one that will break down the bullshit and corruption going on with US Soccer, she calls it as it is and that's what we need.


It’s a total waste of time and money to scout HS soccer.  There are so many bad players in HS soccer that the good players can’t even show what they’re capable of.

Hope Solo has a vicious temper and complete lack of self control. She should not be in charge.


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## JJP (Jan 23, 2018)

espola said:


> What flavor was your koolaid?


If u have a point to make spit it out.


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## espola (Jan 23, 2018)

Chalklines said:


> https://sportsacademy.us
> 
> Just one of many examples.


$65 for 30 minutes with an unnamed coach?


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## espola (Jan 23, 2018)

JJP said:


> If u have a point to make spit it out.


Reads like an ad for academy.


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## espola (Jan 23, 2018)

JJP said:


> You have a point but you are off base in bashing Coerver as a money maker.  You can get quality soccer DVD sets for less than a $100 where they break down and show you moves, Wall ball drills, cone drills, and these drills work incredibly well.  Totally worth the money.
> 
> 
> It’s a total waste of time and money to scout HS soccer.  There are so many bad players in HS soccer that the good players can’t even show what they’re capable of.
> ...


She beat up a male twice her size who attacked her in a family dispute.  What else you got?


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## coachsamy (Jan 23, 2018)

JJP said:


> You have a point but you are off base in bashing Coerver as a money maker.  You can get quality soccer DVD sets for less than a $100 where they break down and show you moves, Wall ball drills, cone drills, and these drills work incredibly well.  Totally worth the money.
> 
> 
> It’s a total waste of time and money to scout HS soccer.  There are so many bad players in HS soccer that the good players can’t even show what they’re capable of.
> ...


Did you ever heard of Youtube? You can get all that training and more freely there so why pay for a gimmick. Plus clubs pay a license to be coerver "certified".

HS soccer is bad? A good player would make those around them better, and probably will show that they are actually that good, because they don't depend in a All Star Squad to make themselves good. And I do value the training/competition among same caliber players, but not everybody is the same and there are qualities that players can't display in these super stack systematic teams.


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## smellycleats (Jan 23, 2018)

Chalklines said:


> I'm with you on this but things are already changing for the younger generation coming up and not US soccer making the changes.
> 
> These huge training facilitys are popping up throughout the nation that offer pick up Futsal multiple nights a week and high intensity training for peanuts on the dollar with actual proven professionals coaching with out fake accents and bad looking track suits.
> 
> I'm interested in seeing results over the next 10 years because these facilities are hosting and catering to the youth. If your a committed athlete and grind from 6-16 years old in that type of environment, how can you not improve.


We have such a facility in our area but I would hardly say that training costs peanuts on the dollar. The training is top notch but very very expensive.


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## coachsamy (Jan 23, 2018)

JJP said:


> Hope Solo has a vicious temper and complete lack of self control. She should not be in charge.


She might be a firecracker, but she's honestly blunt! We need that, someone that will not be afraid to tell Don Garber that his capitalist model of pro soccer sucks, someone that will make sure USWNT gets their fair salary in comparison to their sucky counterparts in USMNT, someone that will end up the cronism, politics and red tape within the entire US Soccer. She might not be perfect, however she brings a change that's desperately needed! Oh and I forgot that she won 2 Olympic Gold medals and 1 World Cup!


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## JJP (Jan 23, 2018)

espola said:


> Reads like an ad for academy.


The coaching on passing and receiving at academy is so good.  The drills they run are incredible.  USSDA gives the coaches a book of passing and receiving drills, where they set up cones and have multiple sets of kids doing various passsing and receiving combinations on the run.  They change up the patterns constantly and what happens is after doing those drills for several months, the boys have learned the geometries of the passing game and can do all sorts of pass-move combos on the fly without thinking.

There’s no way that I, as “dad coach”, could even attempt to do those kinds of drills.  Even the academy coaches had to be trained in how to run these types of drills.  I know you like to bash the academy teams for the bad results of US Soccer, but the academy program is raising the level of coaching, and hopefully that will filter down.


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## espola (Jan 23, 2018)

JJP said:


> The coaching on passing and receiving at academy is so good.  The drills they run are incredible.  USSDA gives the coaches a book of passing and receiving drills, where they set up cones and have multiple sets of kids doing various passsing and receiving combinations on the run.  They change up the patterns constantly and what happens is after doing those drills for several months, the boys have learned the geometries of the passing game and can do all sorts of pass-move combos on the fly without thinking.
> 
> There’s no way that I, as “dad coach”, could even attempt to do those kinds of drills.  Even the academy coaches had to be trained in how to run these types of drills.  I know you like to bash the academy teams for the bad results of US Soccer, but the academy program is raising the level of coaching, and hopefully that will filter down.


Academy started out about 10 years advertising a 10-year program to world-level soccer excellence.  Look where we are now.

Academy could have started 10 years ago with the cohort of then-10-year-olds.  Instead they started with boys in their late teams who were already as developed as they likely were ever going to be, recruited the best players in their neighborhoods, and charged their parents premium fees for no  improvement in individual skills.  I will grant that the level of play in their closed circuits was better than the previous average, but it was a dead end money-grabber, obvious to anyone who looked hard at what was going on.


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## JJP (Jan 23, 2018)

coachsamy said:


> Did you ever heard of Youtube? You can get all that training and more freely there so why pay for a gimmick. Plus clubs pay a license to be coerver "certified".


Gimmick?  YouTube clips are not a gimmick, but the DVDs YouTube rips from are? Not everything out there is on YouTube. It was worth $100 for me to have the complete DVD to show my son how you progressed from basic drills to more advanced play



> HS soccer is bad? A good player would make those around them better, and probably will show that they are actually that good, because they don't depend in a All Star Squad to make themselves good. And I do value the training/competition among same caliber players, but not everybody is the same and there are qualities that players can't display in these super stack systematic teams.


That’s not how soccer works.  Good players don’t make bad players better.   Bad players make good players worse.  Let’s say you have an academy player on a HS team playing the 10.  Academy teams practice all sorts of give and go passing drills to “unlock” their 10 to take a shot on goal.  Watch clips of Messi and see how Barcelona “unlocks” him to see how the pros do it.  The academy 10 on a HS team is nowhere near as effective because his HS team can’t pass/receive well enough to unlock him.


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## Grace T. (Jan 23, 2018)

smellycleats said:


> We have such a facility in our area but I would hardly say that training costs peanuts on the dollar. The training is top notch but very very expensive.


I've been to the one he posted.  It does well.  It has a loyal clientele.  And it's not peanuts on the dollar...their entire sales pitch is to hook you with a single class and then get you to sign up for more expensive series once you've taken the koolaid.  That said some programs are better than others: the basketball and track people swear by it.  They also have great ancillary services like birthday parties, a gym, workspace rooms, and sports medicine.  The soccer program isn't as great.


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## JJP (Jan 23, 2018)

espola said:


> She beat up a male twice her size who attacked her in a family dispute.  What else you got?


So that qualifies her to be President of US Soccer?  Why hold an election.  Throw them all in a cage and last man/woman standing can be god(dess)-emperor of US soccer.


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## espola (Jan 23, 2018)

JJP said:


> So that qualifies her to be President of US Soccer?  Why hold an election.  Throw them all in a cage and last man/woman standing can be god(dess)-emperor of US soccer.


Are you ignoring what I was responding to?  Do you have anything else to add?


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## coachsamy (Jan 23, 2018)

JJP said:


> Gimmick?  YouTube clips are not a gimmick, but the DVDs YouTube rips from are? Not everything out there is on YouTube. It was worth $100 for me to have the complete DVD to show my son how you progressed from basic drills to more advanced play


That's cool that your $100 investment on DVD's paid off for your DS. 



JJP said:


> That’s not how soccer works.  Good players don’t make bad players better.   Bad players make good players worse.  Let’s say you have an academy player on a HS team playing the 10.  Academy teams practice all sorts of give and go passing drills to “unlock” their 10 to take a shot on goal.  Watch clips of Messi and see how Barcelona “unlocks” him to see how the pros do it.  The academy 10 on a HS team is nowhere near as effective because his HS team can’t pass/receive well enough to unlock him.


"Good" Players that get worse by bad players is because they lack the intangibles ie heart, soccer iq, leadership, sportsmanship, things that are not thought anymore at home. I'll accept that there are a lot of flaws with HS sports in general, but to say that a so called superstar gets worst because of those bad players. In my book you are referring to overhype scrubs result of the grown men selling dreams in track suits fluffering dreams and the overall result shows in the USMNT results. Does Pulisic gets worst when he plays for the national team? Does Neymar gets worst when he plays for the national team? Did Aubameyang got any worst for playing for his national team? 

A player getting worst is only his/her fault not 2 left feet Timmy.


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## JJP (Jan 23, 2018)

espola said:


> Academy started out about 10 years advertising a 10-year program to world-level soccer excellence.  Look where we are now.
> 
> Academy could have started 10 years ago with the cohort of then-10-year-olds.  Instead they started with boys in their late teams who were already as developed as they likely were ever going to be, recruited the best players in their neighborhoods, and charged their parents premium fees for no  improvement in individual skills.  I will grant that the level of play in their closed circuits was better than the previous average, but it was a dead end money-grabber, obvious to anyone who looked hard at what was going on.


I agree with you that trying to improve kids after they hit HS is not the best use of time or money, but everyone wants a quick return, so they trained teens hoping it would do the trick.  Obviously that was a fail.  The problem with training youngers in basics is that it’s boring, time consuming and there’s no way to tell who the good players are going to be.  That’s the role of dad coaches, or in the future mom coaches because this generation of girls knows how to play.

It’s hard to build great soccer players in the US, we don’t have soccer culture and, let’s face it, soccer is so hard to get real good at. But blaming USSDA’s academy program IMO is BS.  I haven’t seen one suggestion that’s a viable alternative.  The only suggestion I read here that made sense is Pulgita’s idea to use USSF money to build futsal courts all over the US.


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## JJP (Jan 23, 2018)

coachsamy said:


> "Good" Players that get worse by bad players is because they lack the intangibles ie heart, soccer iq, leadership, sportsmanship, things that are not thought anymore at home. I'll accept that there are a lot of flaws with HS sports in general, but to say that a so called superstar gets worst because of those bad players. In my book you are referring to overhype scrubs result of the grown men selling dreams in track suits fluffering dreams and the overall result shows in the USMNT results. Does Pulisic gets worst when he plays for the national team? Does Neymar gets worst when he plays for the national team? Did Aubameyang got any worst for playing for his national team?
> 
> A player getting worst is only his/her fault not 2 left feet Timmy.


Soccer is the ultimate team sport.  A superstar on a bad team is wasted.  Neymar is an all time great playing for one of the strongest NTs throughout soccer history, so I’m not sure what your point is on him.

If you watched UMNT games you will see that there were several games where Pulisic’s talents were wasted because his team was not good enough to take advantage of him.

I can see you like heart and energy and that’s great, but it’s no substitute for ball mastery (which very few HS players have) or high soccer IQ.  When you see a team that plays with high soccer IQ, it’s like there’s one mind controlling 11 bodies.  Once you have even 2 players with low soccer IQ on a team, that team loses its synergy and breaks down.

HS soccer is a mishmash of kids with differing levels of ball mastery, physical talent and soccer IQ.  It pretty much degenerates into kickball to your best attacker on their weakest defender.


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## JJP (Jan 23, 2018)

coachsamy said:


> That's cool that your $100 investment on DVD's paid off for your DS.


And it’s cool that the money you saved not buying DVDs is paying for premium membership.


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## Chalklines (Jan 23, 2018)

Grace T. said:


> I've been to the one he posted.  It does well.  It has a loyal clientele.  And it's not peanuts on the dollar...their entire sales pitch is to hook you with a single class and then get you to sign up for more expensive series once you've taken the koolaid.  That said some programs are better than others: the basketball and track people swear by it.  They also have great ancillary services like birthday parties, a gym, workspace rooms, and sports medicine.  The soccer program isn't as great.


$10 Futsal for 2 hrs

8 1 hour long, small group sessions for $160 is peanuts compared to individual sessions ranging from $45 to $120 each in the area.

It's not for everyone but your kids getting in more touches then sitting at home.


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## smellycleats (Jan 23, 2018)

coachsamy said:


> She might be a firecracker, but she's honestly blunt! We need that, someone that will not be afraid to tell Don Garber that his capitalist model of pro soccer sucks, someone that will make sure USWNT gets their fair salary in comparison to their sucky counterparts in USMNT, someone that will end up the cronism, politics and red tape within the entire US Soccer. She might not be perfect, however she brings a change that's desperately needed! Oh and I forgot that she won 2 Olympic Gold medals and 1 World Cup!


Outspoken? Not polished? An outsider who will end the status quo?  Sounds familiar...


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## chargerfan (Jan 23, 2018)

smellycleats said:


> Outspoken? Not polished? An outsider who will end the status quo?  Sounds familiar...


Yes, but Solo is definitely not a white supremacist.


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## Real Deal (Jan 23, 2018)

JJP said:


> Soccer is the ultimate team sport.
> 
> When you see a team that plays with high soccer IQ, it’s like there’s one mind controlling 11 bodies.  Once you have even 2 players with low soccer IQ on a team, that team loses its synergy and breaks down.



Really the only way to have the talent we need, is for kids to be passionate about the sport and to go outside and practice with the same kind of obsessiveness they do in other sports.  Our next door neighbor's 9-year-old son is out front shooting hoops the instant he wakes up, and the instant he gets home from school,  _every single day.  _He is sometimes by himself, and quite often joined by the neighborhood kids.  He doesn't even play club basketball and is active in multiple sports, but he practices hoops- for hours- _every single day_.

Bottom line-- we have a ton of talent-- I honestly just think we need to dump the notion of a European model and come up with one that is all our own.  I think that should incorporate and encourage the college game. But first, we need to start with a basic understanding of how the game of soccer works.  Then, we need to promote it to the hilt so kids develop a fundamental "love of the game."


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## smellycleats (Jan 23, 2018)

chargerfan said:


> Yes, but Solo is definitely not a white supremacist.


 He’s a liberal Democrat from NY.


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## chargerfan (Jan 23, 2018)

smellycleats said:


> He’s a liberal Democrat from NY.


Thought you were referring to Trump


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## Grace T. (Jan 23, 2018)

Chalklines said:


> $10 Futsal for 2 hrs
> 
> 8 1 hour long, small group sessions for $160 is peanuts compared to individual sessions ranging from $45 to $120 each in the area.
> 
> It's not for everyone but your kids getting in more touches then sitting at home.



My sons did the futsal there a few times.  Once some really great players from a nearby club showed up...totally worth it for the money, another time mostly a bunch of rec players (mostly youngers), and a third time only a handful of kids.  The small group session YMMV...depends on who you get as a coach and whose in the session...there are better small group classes in the Val, but for futsal you need to either go much further south or north.  I've said it before that I think kids benefit from mixed training including Coerver, privates, small group and team training...I'm for a wholistic, comprehensive approach.

And no, my kid is not sitting at home...I would have actually done the drive to get him to futsal there on Friday (despite the irregular results) or tried to organize the team to drive up but it conflicts with GK training (in fact, one of the issues is, at least for the youngers, their futsal session conflict with both Club and United/Extras training on Fridays).  They also need to structure the program a little bit better and do some outreach on the Socal Soccer Boards and the neighboring clubs if they want their place to be a go-to soccer destination (like they do with Basketball).


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## smellycleats (Jan 23, 2018)

chargerfan said:


> Thought you were referring to Trump


I was.


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## Deadpoolscores! (Jan 24, 2018)

JJP said:


> So that qualifies her to be President of US Soccer?  Why hold an election.  Throw them all in a cage and last man/woman standing can be god(dess)-emperor of US soccer.


Heck if people elected Trump as the US President then everything should be open game then  LOL.


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## El Clasico (Jan 24, 2018)

coachsamy said:


> That's cool that your $100 investment on DVD's paid off for your DS.
> 
> 
> "Good" Players that get worse by bad players is because they lack the intangibles ie heart, soccer iq, leadership, sportsmanship, things that are not thought anymore at home. I'll accept that there are a lot of flaws with HS sports in general, but to say that a so called superstar gets worst because of those bad players. In my book you are referring to overhype scrubs result of the grown men selling dreams in track suits fluffering dreams and the overall result shows in the USMNT results. Does Pulisic gets worst when he plays for the national team? Does Neymar gets worst when he plays for the national team? Did Aubameyang got any worst for playing for his national team?
> ...


You are wasting your time.  It is quite apparent that the guy you are arguing with is either one of those track suit guys or being blown by one.


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## Not_that_Serious (Jan 26, 2018)

JJP said:


> Well, what’s happening is that the kind of ball handling Coerver drills you can do on your own are pretty much limited to ball handling and 1 v 1.   It’s great for little kids because they aren’t going to pass anyway, so they may as well get good at playing keep away with the ball.
> 
> To practice the more complicated Coerver passing and receiving drills requires a bunch of skilled players and a coach who knows how to run those kind of drills, basically an academy level team and coach.
> 
> It’s why I say kids need to do tons of individual Coerver drills and play as much small sided pickup games as possible to develop their ball mastery and 1 v 1 before the best of them enter academy.  Once they enter academy there will be more emphasis on passing, receiving, finishing, shape, etc.  There won’t be enough time to catch up on ball mastery.


Coerver is just a brand that markets European Football drills. In some places its like a pyramid scheme where you own certain areas. Paul Caliguri had South OC and tried to get clubs to force kids to get trained in coerver at their - of course by hiking up costs so he gets paid. These drills have been done before Coerver was a thing and most coaches implement some type of footskill drills in practice. Lucky the old board was wiped or anyone searching Paul Caliguri on Google would have had a lot of reading - dude will do anything for a dollar


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## Not_that_Serious (Jan 26, 2018)

coachsamy said:


> Whoever is going to be good is going to be good regardless of what Godsend coach they have. Drills, practices and structure are helpful but not everything. Coerver, ODP, ECNL, The Kool-Aid Cup(Pick your flavor), Whatever Showcase, etc are just business gimmicks to get a revenue from the customer (Parents) and has completely rotten the entire soccer system in the US. The kids that used to rely on playing high school to get some sort of exposure to college coaches lost that chance because all these scouts/coaches are sitting on a centralized location that caters to who can afford it.
> 
> The 3 highest paying sports in the US rely heavily on high school seasons to determine how goods these kids, but somehow soccer the least paying sport in the US has a business model to centralize recruiting through a horrid pay to play platform. I hope that Martino, Wynalda or Hope Solo gets elected and form a team to unify their ideas.
> 
> I see that no one talks about Hope Solo, but she's the one that will break down the bullshit and corruption going on with US Soccer, she calls it as it is and that's what we need.


How does ODP try to make money off parents? Actually a route that saves parents money. Wish they had more funding so they could field a couple teams per age group.


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## Not_that_Serious (Jan 26, 2018)

She is also not prepared. She states things that arent factually correct - which means she doesnt look things up. She isnt a good public speaker as seen at the convention. Has baggage as well. President needs to be more than just being able to speak loudly and truthfully - especially considering some of the others running. Someone like Mary Harvey should have ran, but probably didnt want to step on Carter's toes


coachsamy said:


> She might be a firecracker, but she's honestly blunt! We need that, someone that will not be afraid to tell Don Garber that his capitalist model of pro soccer sucks, someone that will make sure USWNT gets their fair salary in comparison to their sucky counterparts in USMNT, someone that will end up the cronism, politics and red tape within the entire US Soccer. She might not be perfect, however she brings a change that's desperately needed! Oh and I forgot that she won 2 Olympic Gold medals and 1 World Cup!


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## JJP (Jan 26, 2018)

El Clasico said:


> You are wasting your time.  It is quite apparent that the guy you are arguing with is either one of those track suit guys or *being blown by one*.


Classless.


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## Soccer43 (Jan 27, 2018)

JJP said:


> So that qualifies her to be President of US Soccer?  Why hold an election.  Throw them all in a cage and last man/woman standing can be god(dess)-emperor of US soccer.


Interesting suggestion, might be a way to select the next president...Maybe better than the other ways we select our leaders/coaches/club DOC's in youth soccer.


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## younothat (Jan 30, 2018)

*Hope Solo sues the soccer federation she wants to run*
"Solo filed a formal complaint Tuesday against the United States Soccer Federation, of which she hopes to be elected president on Feb. 10, accusing the governing body of neglecting youth soccer development for the sake of self-serving financial gain"
https://nypost.com/2018/01/30/hope-solo-sues-the-soccer-federation-she-wants-to-run/

Think she has a point about the "neglect & self-serving financial gain"......$100-140 million war chest controlled by investment bankers is not doing a whole lot for youth soccer development.


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## JJP (Jan 30, 2018)

younothat said:


> Think she has a point about the "neglect & self-serving financial gain"......$100-140 million war chest controlled by investment bankers is not doing a whole lot for youth soccer development.


That money is gone. Those I-Bankers have manipulated treasuries, LIBOR, blew up the economy with fraudulent loans and their shitty mortgage backed securities, why would they stop at stealing the soccer money.

Plus every single soccer federation in every single country in the entire history of soccer has plundered the WC money earned by the players. No candidate is going to stop that.


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## MWN (Jan 31, 2018)

JJP said:


> That money is gone. Those I-Bankers have manipulated treasuries, LIBOR, blew up the economy with fraudulent loans and their shitty mortgage backed securities, why would they stop at stealing the soccer money.
> 
> Plus every single soccer federation in every single country in the entire history of soccer has plundered the WC money earned by the players. No candidate is going to stop that.


Cynicism aside, the war chest remains intact (https://www.ussoccer.com/~/media/files/federation-services/financial/20170613-us-soccer-federation-2016-irs-990.pdf?la=en) 

Between US Soccer with about 120M and the US Soccer Federation Foundation 40M, there are plenty of funds.


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## JJP (Jan 31, 2018)

MWN said:


> Cynicism aside, the war chest remains intact (https://www.ussoccer.com/~/media/files/federation-services/financial/20170613-us-soccer-federation-2016-irs-990.pdf?la=en)
> 
> Between US Soccer with about 120M and the US Soccer Federation Foundation 40M, there are plenty of funds.


That’s only how much is left.


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## timbuck (Feb 10, 2018)

Annnddddd..... US soccer is still fucked.
Carlos Cordiera elected as new president.  He was Sunil’s VP.  And as he said in his brief and underwhelming acceptance speech “Thank you Sunil for introducing me to this game 10 years ago”.
Former Goldman exec who probably loves to watch “big kicks” on the soccer court while cheering for touchdowns and 3 pointers.
I bet if you put a soccer cleat, a football cleat and a baseball cleat in front of him, he’d have a hard time picking out the soccer cleat.
At the next game I attend, I’m making a sign that says “Carlos kicks with his toe”


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## Dargle (Feb 10, 2018)

timbuck said:


> Annnddddd..... US soccer is still fucked.
> Carlos Cordiera elected as new president.  He was Sunil’s VP.  And as he said in his brief and underwhelming acceptance speech “Thank you Sunil for introducing me to this game 10 years ago”.
> Former Goldman exec who probably loves to watch “big kicks” on the soccer court while cheering for touchdowns and 3 pointers.
> I bet if you put a soccer cleat, a football cleat and a baseball cleat in front of him, he’d have a hard time picking out the soccer cleat.
> At the next game I attend, I’m making a sign that says “Carlos kicks with his toe”


According to this story, he played HS soccer in Miami.

http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/mls/article198019704.html

Here's what he says about youth soccer in the story:



> “My vision is really about reinvigorating our grass roots, which I think over the last 10 to 15 years has suffered as a huge amount of resources have gone into our elite players and national teams,” he said. “We have three or four times as many kids playing soccer outside the umbrella of U.S. Soccer than inside. So, if the numbers are 3 or 3.5 million kids registered to us, the reality is there are so many more kids not registered, kids from underserved communities, more diverse communities.
> 
> “How do we bring them in? Part of it is making soccer more affordable. That is absolutely essential to making our sport more inclusive. If we capture even 10 or 15 percent of those kids, it will help. We will never max our potential in the sport if we don’t bring everyone in. It’s like saying we’re going to create the best baseball team in the world but only go after 25 percent of the kids who want to play.”


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## zebrafish (Feb 10, 2018)

“_My vision is really about reinvigorating our grass roots, which I think over the last 10 to 15 years has suffered as a huge amount of resources have gone into our elite players and national teams,” he said. “We have three or four times as many kids playing soccer outside the umbrella of U.S. Soccer than inside. So, if the numbers are 3 or 3.5 million kids registered to us, the reality is there are so many more kids not registered, kids from underserved communities, more diverse communities._"

This coming out of a former Goldman Sachs executive almost made me do a full-on coffee spit take.

Absolutely laughable. Nothing is going to change.


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## uburoi (Feb 10, 2018)

zebrafish said:


> “_My vision is really about reinvigorating our grass roots, which I think over the last 10 to 15 years has suffered as a huge amount of resources have gone into our elite players and national teams,” he said. “We have three or four times as many kids playing soccer outside the umbrella of U.S. Soccer than inside. So, if the numbers are 3 or 3.5 million kids registered to us, the reality is there are so many more kids not registered, kids from underserved communities, more diverse communities._"
> 
> This coming out of a former Goldman Sachs executive almost made me do a full-on coffee spit take.
> 
> Absolutely laughable. Nothing is going to change.


Another politician who is not connected to what’s happening at the spot. Depressing.


----------

