Bingo!
"instead of just griping about the problem, as I did Tuesday, let’s offer some solutions....
they’re not the only answers, and some are blissfully idealistic in a pay-to-play world where too many of the people getting paid are making too many of the decisions"
The author must have been reading this blog or something, we've touched on just all all these topics and I have in fact stated some of the exact things mentioned for several years for example:
"U.S. Soccer has a $100 million-plus surplus. Retrofitting outdoor basketball courts with futsal goals in disadvantaged neighborhoods to encourage free, open pickup games might not be a bad way to spend some of it"
Futsal
Futsal is the five-a-side Brazilian game played on a hard surface (a basketball court works fine) with a smaller, weighted ball that stays on the ground. There are no walls, like in the American bastardization of indoor soccer, so you just can’t kick it willy-nilly without it sailing out of bounds. Instead, it provides players many more meaningful touches on the ball in tighter spaces than an 11 vs. 11 outdoor game.
And it’s fun. One reason is the fast action and 8-7 scorelines. Another is that it’s usually played in the outdoor game’s offseason, without the pressure and expectations of club soccer. No one cares about wins or losses or league standings, and kids seem to more open to experimentation without fear of reprisal.
Christian Pulisic’s father thought highly enough of futsal for his son’s development that, when there were no leagues in the Detroit area, he started one himself. Just so Christian could play.
Iceland adopted a similar philosophy, building soccer “houses” around the country – domed fields open to kids at all hours, either for free play or more structured clubs. (You might have noticed that Iceland, population 334,000, qualified for the 2018 World Cup.)
Bio-banding
"Youth players are grouped not by chronological age, where those who hit puberty early or have birthdays in the months after the Jan. 1 cut-off can enjoy huge physical advantages, but by their “biological” age. A formula using your parents’ height determines the percentage of your expected adult size, and you play within those new divisions.
So kids who grow early might be grouped with older kids who have similar physiques and muscle mass. And late bloomers don’t get discouraged or wash out of the sport, instead playing with others of similar physical maturity.
It’s not an exact science but it allows smaller kids to develop their games at their own rate while not allowing the big, fast, strong kids to ignore necessary technical and tactical skills because they can dominate with their physical superiority.
U.S. Soccer, to its credit, held a small bio-banding tournament in April within its Development Academy. Let’s just hope it doesn’t kill the program, as it has with some other outside-the-box proposals, and instead expands it into the mainstream club system"
Winning
The Canadian province of Ontario did away with scores in all games through under-12. That might not fly here, but how about getting rid of standings and league championships? Keep standings privately so teams can be arranged in appropriate divisions the following season, but don’t let parents and coaches find them in a couple of clicks on the Internet.
And while we’re at it, let’s get rid of State Cups and other regional or national championships until, say, U-14.
Parents of club players in Southern California are familiar with the windswept, desert outpost of Lancaster. That’s because the city built a 35-field complex and rents it at cut rates to State Cup organizers in exchange for filling hotel rooms otherwise empty on weekends. It’s why San Diego teams regularly end up there, sometimes to play another San Diego team; it’s too far to drive back and forth, so you cough up $170 per night for a broken-down motel.
It’s a scam. Would our lives be any less fulfilling if we didn’t know who is the best under-9 girls team in the state?
Pick-up soccer
The United States is a soccer-playing nation, not a soccer nation. There’s a difference.
One idea: Mandate that all clubs affiliated with U.S. Soccer have at least one day per week of pick-up soccer. Players come like they would for practice, coaches group them into teams on small-sided fields, then get out of the way and let ’em play. No instruction, only imagination.
Solidarity payments
'When Neymar was sold from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain last year, $10.2 million of his record $252 million transfer fee was sent to Brazilian club Santos, where he joined the youth academy at age 11. They are called solidarity payments, and they’re mandated by FIFA for all clubs that participated in a player’s development between ages 12 and 23.
Except in the United States, where they don’t exist.
That they don’t is a function of labor laws, antitrust laws and a seeming reluctance of entities like Major League Soccer and U.S. Soccer. But there are class-action lawsuits making their way through the courts, so we can hope.
What solidarity payments do is alter the focus of youth clubs, from developing teams to developing individuals. You don’t make any money for winning State Cup, but what happens if your players eventually go pro? Would clubs waste time on kids who help you win now because they matured early, or would they play the long game with patient skill development?
It also might flip the pay-to-play paradigm at some clubs (more with boys than girls). Clubs would be more prone to foot the development bill if they stand to profit down the road'
Coaching
U.S. Soccer has an extensive program to license coaches at various levels. It costs money.
What if it were free? That’s another thing Iceland did, paying for hundreds of coaches to go through the respected UEFA licensing program.
Suddenly, you’d flood the market with qualified and motivated coaches from a generation that played the game as youths, in college or beyond. Some, out of a love for the game and for kids, would form teams at cut rates in areas where folks don’t drive Ferraris. Market forces would do the rest. Why pay $2,000 a year when you can get quality coaching for a fraction of the price?
Curriculum
It’s one thing to have more licensed coaches. Their effectiveness, though, depends on what you teach them. U.S. Soccer’s national coaching curriculum has been modified over the decades, and it includes some excellent material.
But why not refine it further, with an eye toward not burning out kids before they’re teenagers and not mass-producing robots who view soccer practice like math class or piano lessons – something they do at a prescribed day and time because their parents want them to.
Also on it would be Tom Byer, an American who revolutionized youth development in Japan and recently had a pilot program in Seattle squelched by U.S. Soccer that introduces soccer at home before kids begin playing on teams. So would Todd Beane, an American who runs a respected youth academy in Barcelona and is a pioneer in teaching cognitive development over athleticism.
So would Brian Quinn, the former U.S. national-team player from Northern Ireland who currently is the head men’s coach at the University of San Diego. He has long advocated a two-track system of talent identification – one using the normal parameters, and a parallel track for smaller, late bloomers with supreme technical skills to see if a Leo Messi or Andres Iniesta emerges.
So would Toumi Abdelghani. This is a selfish choice, being my daughter’s coach. He’s a U.S. Soccer coaching instructor but, those who have played for him will tell you, is unlike any youth coach anyone has encountered.
His first priority is not training specific skills but empowering the mind, teaching kids ownership so their decisions on the field are theirs, not an adult screaming from the sidelines. Practices are primarily informal small-sided games with a daily concept introduced, where kids are encouraged – even ordered – to dribble and try moves without fear of failure while he quietly watches.
Two things happen: His players become comfortable on the ball, able to think and problem-solve for themselves. And they learn to love the sport. Practice ends, and they don’t grab their water bottle and bolt for the SUV. They ask to stay, to play longer.
Soccer the business becomes soccer the game again.
