Is American youth soccer moving to possession style?

[Anonymous]

RantingSoccerDad wrote:Officially? Sure. U.S. Soccer rolled out a "curriculum" in the early 2010s that had detailed charts about teaching ball skills at the earliest ages and then moving promptly to a fluid passing game. Development Academy clubs were, at least for a while, judged harshly on whether or not they were playing as much like Barcelona as they possibly could.

The curriculum has gone by the wayside, but as someone noted above, other initiatives such as the build-out lines are geared toward possession soccer. And that's not the main reason they outlawed heading at early ages (that was subconcussive-trauma fear, spurred on by a lawsuit), but one by-product of that change is a greater emphasis on keeping the ball on the ground.

Specifically in women's soccer, the desire to play more of a possession game dates back at least to the hiring of Pia Sundhage in 2007. They didn't go full-bore into it because you can't completely abandon the direct style when you have Abby Wambach up front.

So yeah -- U.S. Soccer wants to play possession.

The difference between here and Germany is that youth coaches, even the paid ones, often don't do what the federation wants them to do. Also, we have college soccer, which has free substitutions and therefore tends to be more of an athletic contest.

You often can't even say a particular club is coherent. Alexandria may be the most insistent on playing possession soccer -- they've collected passing stats in U9 games. Elsewhere, one coach in a club may take a completely different approach than another. I saw two Vienna teams in the same age group on back-to-back days last year -- the first (the B-team) played nice fluid soccer, while the second (the C-team) had parents cheering when the goalkeeper punted the ball the length of the field to the opposing keeper.

In rec soccer? There's only so much you can do. You have a wide range of talent -- some certainly good enough to play medium-high level travel soccer, some with actual movement disorders. They're all supposed to play at least half of every game. (Right, coaches? You all do that, right?) You may get some pockets of players who can combine to string together a few passes, but then the ball will eventually get to a player who's overwhelmed and just trying to get the ball somewhere.

And lets not forget a few other things at play as well:

1. The ability to see international leagues on TV, especially LaLiga, where possession can be seen at the highest levels has an influence. While the Premier League is a bit more physical and direct, Man City walked away with the title by playing a strong possession style game.

2. On the women's international side soccer nations are starting to pour resources into the women's game and these nations are using the same methods to train and develop as on the men's side. Our ability to dominate through sheer athleticism and overall player pool will no longer be enough to maintain dominance.

3. Parents are more educated and are beginning to demand a better soccer training environment.

What we still lack are ENOUGH demanding parents and ENOUGH quality coaches committed to teaching possession at the earliest ages.

[Anonymous]

I think most American parents don't even really know what true 'possession' soccer is.

If a team has a few passes 1-3 pass strings--they think the kids are 'passing well'. They think that means they are playing possession.

Then, they have the backs or keeper boot it out of the back. There is no 'taking time' and teaching other options because it is 'too risky' to lose a game at U9/10/11/12---then you wouldn't have as many gotsoccer points.

There is a lot of inconsistency. Other than Alexandria, I really don't know any other travel Club that has a 'philosophy and curriculum'. The coaches are trained how to implement possession. We looked at a lot of Clubs.

Most Clubs just hire coaches and let them do their own thing. Since the coaches change year-to-year and sometimes mid-year there is zero consistency or building on concepts. In the crucial development years you have kids that have coaches that contradict each other fairly consistently.

It's good to learn from different coaches, yes. But, it's very confusing for young kids starting out to be told different things about where to move on the field, etc.

[Anonymous]

Seems Alexandria really has a good reputation, kinda the polar opposite of some other clubs mentioned here. And they are not even pursuing DA or ECNL?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems Alexandria really has a good reputation, kinda the polar opposite of some other clubs mentioned here. And they are not even pursuing DA or ECNL?

ECNL/DA is oversaturated in the NOVA area already. We should be talking about getting rid of a team or two, not adding another.

Alexandria may have a good reputation for possession based soccer, but they are not particularly known for being a soccer power in the area.

[Anonymous]

What is the public opinion on FPYC? My DC is a sophomore and a lot of his friends who are very good play at that club. I know they’re not known as a powerhouse but I am intrigued by their rare low prices for travel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the public opinion on FPYC? My DC is a sophomore and a lot of his friends who are very good play at that club. I know they’re not known as a powerhouse but I am intrigued by their rare low prices for travel.

I only have experience with FPYC girls say U9-U12. Since moving to ECNL we have not seen them again. I thought they were very well coached, and they played a possession brand of soccer. They did not have the best athletes, so to be competitive they had to. I know we were chasing the ball all over the place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think most American parents don't even really know what true 'possession' soccer is.

If a team has a few passes 1-3 pass strings--they think the kids are 'passing well'. They think that means they are playing possession.

Then, they have the backs or keeper boot it out of the back. There is no 'taking time' and teaching other options because it is 'too risky' to lose a game at U9/10/11/12---then you wouldn't have as many gotsoccer points.

There is a lot of inconsistency. Other than Alexandria, I really don't know any other travel Club that has a 'philosophy and curriculum'. The coaches are trained how to implement possession. We looked at a lot of Clubs.

Most Clubs just hire coaches and let them do their own thing. Since the coaches change year-to-year and sometimes mid-year there is zero consistency or building on concepts. In the crucial development years you have kids that have coaches that contradict each other fairly consistently.

It's good to learn from different coaches, yes. But, it's very confusing for young kids starting out to be told different things about where to move on the field, etc.

BRYC (on the girls' side at least) has a philosophy and a curriculum - some teams execute better than others but they are coached to play possession style, and kids with good technical/foot skills are valued. The 03s and 06s are current good examples. Over the years, they've had relatively low turnover of their key staff, there is consistency in approach from coach to coach (with only a few exceptions in my experience), and especially at the younger ages, do not value winning over learning to play the right way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the public opinion on FPYC? My DC is a sophomore and a lot of his friends who are very good play at that club. I know they’re not known as a powerhouse but I am intrigued by their rare low prices for travel.

I only have experience with FPYC girls say U9-U12. Since moving to ECNL we have not seen them again. I thought they were very well coached, and they played a possession brand of soccer. They did not have the best athletes, so to be competitive they had to. I know we were chasing the ball all over the place.

Thanks for your feedback. My son is at Herndon currently, and even though they are moving to CCL next season, I feel that the team has regressed this spring while my son’s friends seem to have improved exponentially over the past year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think most American parents don't even really know what true 'possession' soccer is.

If a team has a few passes 1-3 pass strings--they think the kids are 'passing well'. They think that means they are playing possession.

Then, they have the backs or keeper boot it out of the back. There is no 'taking time' and teaching other options because it is 'too risky' to lose a game at U9/10/11/12---then you wouldn't have as many gotsoccer points.

There is a lot of inconsistency. Other than Alexandria, I really don't know any other travel Club that has a 'philosophy and curriculum'. The coaches are trained how to implement possession. We looked at a lot of Clubs.

Most Clubs just hire coaches and let them do their own thing. Since the coaches change year-to-year and sometimes mid-year there is zero consistency or building on concepts. In the crucial development years you have kids that have coaches that contradict each other fairly consistently.

It's good to learn from different coaches, yes. But, it's very confusing for young kids starting out to be told different things about where to move on the field, etc.

Exactly...what is possession soccer? Passing with a purpose? I don't know. It's hard to define at least for me. I believe that people are right in pointing to Alexandria but just because a GK plays a long ball, it doesn't mean that they aren't playing possession soccer and just because Alexandria uses the GK 10 times more than any our club doesn't mean their soccer is great. My son played for Alexandria and I believe that they used the GK too much and were sometimes afraid to attack. Sure their pass counts and pass strings built up but with no purpose sometimes. To me players need to pass the ball to a teammate who can play forward. Sometimes that means playing backwards.

[Anonymous]

Yea the problem with Alexandria teams is that they can become dogmatic with their possession to the point that it’s stale ala LVG’s Man U. Obviously you want to play a proactive style but the game does have demands, sometimes you just have to take risks and take your man on, create penetration, clear out a loose pinball in your box when there’s no outlet, play direct if there is a run that’s been opened up by your underneath play (an accurate long pass, rather than a speculative hoof), etc...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the public opinion on FPYC? My DC is a sophomore and a lot of his friends who are very good play at that club. I know they’re not known as a powerhouse but I am intrigued by their rare low prices for travel.

What age group?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the public opinion on FPYC? My DC is a sophomore and a lot of his friends who are very good play at that club. I know they’re not known as a powerhouse but I am intrigued by their rare low prices for travel.

What age group?

I think it’s their 01s

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has theire been any official pivot by the powers above to implement possession play?
We spent last 3 years in Germany and our 10 year old boy is a fish out of water still at the end of season in rec.
He is very technical and in practice they use him as the model/example for everything; but in the games no one actually passes like they practice or designed.
He loves soccer but does not understand to shoot and break out whenever possible. He won’t stop passing and play our style and i am not sure if we need to drill it in his head to play the way the other boys play or if our sons style is right and his team is wrong.

Have you looked at FCB's Escuela? Might be a good spot for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has theire been any official pivot by the powers above to implement possession play?
We spent last 3 years in Germany and our 10 year old boy is a fish out of water still at the end of season in rec.
He is very technical and in practice they use him as the model/example for everything; but in the games no one actually passes like they practice or designed.
He loves soccer but does not understand to shoot and break out whenever possible. He won’t stop passing and play our style and i am not sure if we need to drill it in his head to play the way the other boys play or if our sons style is right and his team is wrong.

Have you looked at FCB's Escuela? Might be a good spot for him.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not the club, it's the coach. It all comes back to discipline and the willingness to teach it right at the risk of loosing. Club coaches all claim possession style but when the game gets tight, you see the speedsters line up for attack and it's 1-2 passes before it's pounded 30 yards. We have a great coach at the U12 age group and the team is amazing, all the kids have bought in and I swear you could never tell who is the fastest player, but your head will swivel like a bobble head as the ball moves from player to player. It almost looks like a keep away drill for most of the game. With that being said, he's the only coach I know in the club that plays like that.

It's boring though to average American who watch/play football and basketball.

Disagree....American football is dying...tackle is really only being played above 12 and most areas high school (except Texas).
Flag football hugely popular; but when the tackling starts most parents bail; unless player may be elite.
Basketball the physics and genetics rule out so many so early that lacrosse and soccer with baseball are gaining for youth.

US failure in soccer at the national level will reap the benefits. Different generation who, with proper institution can pivot to the winning model.

i was trying to make a point the 'keep away game' style is boring to the football and basketball crowd so don't pursue/push for it. and they're the paying customers.