Travel Soccer teams around NOVA let's discuss

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

asksoccernova wrote:How many full-time professional youth academies that support U9-U19 does our country have (where school is secondary to soccer, not the other way around)?

How many soccer-only boarding schools where the club pays? The number of players doesn't matter without the infrastructure.

Compare that to the amount of youth and professional baseball infrastructure we have in the US... and how many fathers can teach their kids how to play baseball vs. how many can really teach their kids soccer...

There are a lot of kids playing youth basketball in china, but are they ever going to catch up to us? No. Why? Because its in the DNA of several generations already, passed down from grandfather to father to son on the driveway, the park, or the streets, not learned at a weekly skills clinic. Kids playing basketball non-stop form dawn till dusk nearly every day they can.


The most naturally talented players actually come from Africa - heck, most kids aren't even in school and they play soccer all day long with and against teenagers or grown men (with EXTREME substandard equipment). Like the soccer they play would be an instant lawsuit here in the US (no shoes, no shin guards, using a clump of rags stitched together to make something round that resembles a soccer ball, dangerous field conditions, boys playing against men, no risk management forms, no player cards, way too many players on one field if you could even call it that, NOTHING).

The harsher the playing environment/conditions, the more raw talent is produced. Pele, anyone? Didn't own soccer shoes, played barefoot, never had an actual coach until he was discovered (at 13? could be wrong), and had a soccer ball-like object that he would dribble everywhere he went..


The problem is that there are few people (relative to the tens of millions of kids playing soccer in Africa) who can coach them in decision-making and team / group play. For them, its soccer or nothing, so those that actually have a shot at making it to a higher level are playing as if their lives are on the line - because it is for many of them... a life of being an unskilled worker in Africa or getting the glory. Starting at age 11-12 when they are old enough to become aware of it. The very best among these millions of kids are plucked out every year and put into European youth academies... some of them make it, some don't.

Good luck to the typical American kid competing against others that literally have no alternative in life except to become a professional soccer player or have a life of manual labor...

Why are Cuban baseball players so good? same reason. No other way out. Many (not all of course) basketball and football players are as good as they are for the same reason - no alternative. Suburban soccer kids simply do not have the same survival-driven instinct even if they are "good / talented" players.

Yes, there are european kids that will have education alternatives if they don't make it, but again, these kids are getting spoon-fed soccer 7 days a week from the time they can barely walk at 2... by the time they are 7, they have been kicking a ball around for 5 years already in some form or another.... and we are starting with mini kickers classes once a week for 8 week sessions in the spring and fall. God forbid that we let an 8 year old play soccer more than 6 hours of organized soccer per week (2-3 practices + 1 game on the weekend)!!

BOOM!

Thank you, travel club directors. Wow? You ignored all the legitimate facts presented over the last 2 pages and provided...more excuse. It's shameful, really. The top kids' sport in America with 24.5 million American kids playing and a kid that was largely trained by his own Father and abroad is what we have produced in the last 40 years. The US Soccer Federation can't even truly claim credit for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

asksoccernova wrote:How many full-time professional youth academies that support U9-U19 does our country have (where school is secondary to soccer, not the other way around)?

How many soccer-only boarding schools where the club pays? The number of players doesn't matter without the infrastructure.

Compare that to the amount of youth and professional baseball infrastructure we have in the US... and how many fathers can teach their kids how to play baseball vs. how many can really teach their kids soccer...

There are a lot of kids playing youth basketball in china, but are they ever going to catch up to us? No. Why? Because its in the DNA of several generations already, passed down from grandfather to father to son on the driveway, the park, or the streets, not learned at a weekly skills clinic. Kids playing basketball non-stop form dawn till dusk nearly every day they can.


The most naturally talented players actually come from Africa - heck, most kids aren't even in school and they play soccer all day long with and against teenagers or grown men (with EXTREME substandard equipment). Like the soccer they play would be an instant lawsuit here in the US (no shoes, no shin guards, using a clump of rags stitched together to make something round that resembles a soccer ball, dangerous field conditions, boys playing against men, no risk management forms, no player cards, way too many players on one field if you could even call it that, NOTHING).

The harsher the playing environment/conditions, the more raw talent is produced. Pele, anyone? Didn't own soccer shoes, played barefoot, never had an actual coach until he was discovered (at 13? could be wrong), and had a soccer ball-like object that he would dribble everywhere he went..


The problem is that there are few people (relative to the tens of millions of kids playing soccer in Africa) who can coach them in decision-making and team / group play. For them, its soccer or nothing, so those that actually have a shot at making it to a higher level are playing as if their lives are on the line - because it is for many of them... a life of being an unskilled worker in Africa or getting the glory. Starting at age 11-12 when they are old enough to become aware of it. The very best among these millions of kids are plucked out every year and put into European youth academies... some of them make it, some don't.

Good luck to the typical American kid competing against others that literally have no alternative in life except to become a professional soccer player or have a life of manual labor...

Why are Cuban baseball players so good? same reason. No other way out. Many (not all of course) basketball and football players are as good as they are for the same reason - no alternative. Suburban soccer kids simply do not have the same survival-driven instinct even if they are "good / talented" players.

Yes, there are european kids that will have education alternatives if they don't make it, but again, these kids are getting spoon-fed soccer 7 days a week from the time they can barely walk at 2... by the time they are 7, they have been kicking a ball around for 5 years already in some form or another.... and we are starting with mini kickers classes once a week for 8 week sessions in the spring and fall. God forbid that we let an 8 year old play soccer more than 6 hours of organized soccer per week (2-3 practices + 1 game on the weekend)!!

BOOM!

Thank you, travel club directors. Wow? You ignored all the legitimate facts presented over the last 2 pages and provided...more excuse. It's shameful, really. The top kids' sport in America with 24.5 million American kids playing and a kid that was largely trained by his own Father and abroad is what we have produced in the last 40 years. The US Soccer Federation can't even truly claim credit for him.

It isn't a DOC's fault if American kids are not playing soccer "in the street". Nor is it their fault that EPL has only been on cable TV for nearly 4 years now. It isn't a DOC's fault that soccer is not taught in the backyard by a generation of knowledgeable mom's and dad's like baseball.

Clubs don't make great players, passion, talent, culture and family do. If you have ever yelled in a game "send her/him!" then congratulations, you are part of the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well said. Please forward that to every local club's recreation director, all of which design these inane 4U, 5U, and 6U-8U programs, that all too often have nothing but a bunch of babysitting birthday party games and giant group drills that they sell to niave parents as curriculum that is so important to "making soccer fun in order that we retain these kids later at 13." Total garbage. As any soccer playing mom/dad knows, and who has raised kids at this age and who has wanted to pass on foot skills, technique, and ability on the ball, these youngers can have tons of fun learning the same skills as we see being introduced to 9U travel players. Want to know how clueless we are in this area? One of the local ECNL clubs mentioned a few posts back actually adopted a rec policy a few years ago trying to prevent/limit families and friends of youngers from getting together to play and train and learn these things on their own (the very things that none of these clubs are providing, and that the little kids desperately need and can have fun mastering if done right). Of course these clubs want you to pay extra money for their "skills sessions" taught by their staff in giant, and worthless, group settings. The $$ that we pay these directors for the crap programming that goes on at these young ages is just maddening. How many sessions of What Time is it Mr. Wolf do we need, when there are some kids that have been learning skills since almost 3, or there are kids at 5 who want to just play the game in a small sided soccer format with a knowledgeable coach who can use opportunities in the scrimmage to offer developmental coaching points, e.g., like not using your toe, or dribbling inatead of kicking? Instead, we cut into game time at 5U and even 6U, and force these kids to do boring group drills that offer some weak coaching point about using your laces. Then these rec. directors come up what seems like a brilliant idea to have coaches screen for these "advanced" kids, but instead all they end up with are programs that select fast and agressive 5 and 6 year olds, instead of ones that are bored out of their minds by the garbage curriculum in this area. These coaches in these programs NEVER talk to parents, and clubs work against them thinking they know what kids need better then knowledgeable, interested soccer parents. There is no hope for us in this area when the whole system has a mindset that is working against you and the curriculum is a bunch of baloney & cheese. There is absolutely nothing for our little kids in this area.

^^This is the post that should have gotten the BOOM. The best players in this Country are the ones that defy the system. They are trained primarily by a parent. They train abroad, etc. Our system is designed to fail. Three 90 minute organized practices in a factory with 65+ kids run by JV soccer coaches and foreign coaches with phony credentials preying on parents with deep pockets and lack of knowledge of the sport.

Just look at soccernova's post---once again defending the American way when it comes to soccer and the rallying cry that Americans can not make progress in the sport. Why are we all spending so much money then? Why not wash our hands of it? What a defeatist attitude. But--it serves to justify the lack of results of the US Soccer Federation.

Somebody actually said that European academies don't involve education ??

Do you know anything about La Masia--arguably the best youth Soccer academy in the World--producing more than any other Club?

The players go to a top-notch private school for 6.5 hours a day. They are required to not only learn Catalan---but also two other foreign languages. Barcelona prides itself on developing the total man: athletics, values and academics. For instance, team officials said that a dozen players on Barcelona’s B team — as well as one of its stars, midfielder Andrés Iniesta — are taking college courses.

“This surprises people,” Carles Folguera, the director of the residence at La Masia, said through an interpreter. “They think the players are here to play football and not to study. We prepare them for sport, but also to have another future if sport does not work out.”
A private tour I was lucky enough to attend through private connections--I was able to meet former players that had no professional career (injuries, etc.)--but were top businessmen because of the education they were provided by the Academy. Bayern is similar. Ajax is similar.

"It's not defined by a single variable," said Carles Folguera, the academic director of La Masia. "There are many influencing factors that explain our success that is being recognized worldwide. It's a long process. It's not good to be in a hurry, so there's patience here. In that process you have good coaches, and you look not only for talent for the game, but you also look at personality -- how the kid tries to overcome obstacles and difficult moments, an injury or a coach who doesn't believe in him. So it's also about character, values."

Americans latch on to kids at 8, 9 years old and throw them out by 12. They want to push more and more phony leagues down to younger and younger ages. They don't invest in players. They don't even develop 99.9% of the 24.5 million kids playing the game.

Do you know how hard it is to find a single high quality trainer in the DMV???? This is the question I am asked on a daily basis by other parents at travel clubs around the region. Where are your kids training, how did they learn those skills, how can you help me--can you give me a name? There are far too many snake oil salesman in US youth soccer.

The most gain my kids make each year is in the time they spend away from the organized practices. Has anyone seen what constitutes the typical soccer practice at top Clubs around the area? Why isn't there more outrage? It's complete shit.

I see kids on top teams that have zero first touch, haven't learned the proper way to shoot, can't juggle a ball (which demonstrates control) past 20, barely have enough control to dribble a ball through cones, teams which can't even complete a 3-pass string. Watch the type of player that gets promoted up through the system. It's telling.

[Anonymous]

What about if I yell "Rapido" or "Dale"? Is that OK?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about if I yell "Rapido" or "Dale"? Is that OK?

I tell you---the best thing I could do was move my kids to a team where the majority of parents don't speak English.

At least now I can't understand the idiotic directions and sideline coaching that used to get my panties in a twist. Ignorance is bliss.

The games are much more peaceful for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well said. Please forward that to every local club's recreation director, all of which design these inane 4U, 5U, and 6U-8U programs, that all too often have nothing but a bunch of babysitting birthday party games and giant group drills that they sell to niave parents as curriculum that is so important to "making soccer fun in order that we retain these kids later at 13." Total garbage. As any soccer playing mom/dad knows, and who has raised kids at this age and who has wanted to pass on foot skills, technique, and ability on the ball, these youngers can have tons of fun learning the same skills as we see being introduced to 9U travel players. Want to know how clueless we are in this area? One of the local ECNL clubs mentioned a few posts back actually adopted a rec policy a few years ago trying to prevent/limit families and friends of youngers from getting together to play and train and learn these things on their own (the very things that none of these clubs are providing, and that the little kids desperately need and can have fun mastering if done right). Of course these clubs want you to pay extra money for their "skills sessions" taught by their staff in giant, and worthless, group settings. The $$ that we pay these directors for the crap programming that goes on at these young ages is just maddening. How many sessions of What Time is it Mr. Wolf do we need, when there are some kids that have been learning skills since almost 3, or there are kids at 5 who want to just play the game in a small sided soccer format with a knowledgeable coach who can use opportunities in the scrimmage to offer developmental coaching points, e.g., like not using your toe, or dribbling inatead of kicking? Instead, we cut into game time at 5U and even 6U, and force these kids to do boring group drills that offer some weak coaching point about using your laces. Then these rec. directors come up what seems like a brilliant idea to have coaches screen for these "advanced" kids, but instead all they end up with are programs that select fast and agressive 5 and 6 year olds, instead of ones that are bored out of their minds by the garbage curriculum in this area. These coaches in these programs NEVER talk to parents, and clubs work against them thinking they know what kids need better then knowledgeable, interested soccer parents. There is no hope for us in this area when the whole system has a mindset that is working against you and the curriculum is a bunch of baloney & cheese. There is absolutely nothing for our little kids in this area.

^^This is the post that should have gotten the BOOM. The best players in this Country are the ones that defy the system. They are trained primarily by a parent. They train abroad, etc. Our system is designed to fail. Three 90 minute organized practices in a factory with 65+ kids run by JV soccer coaches and foreign coaches with phony credentials preying on parents with deep pockets and lack of knowledge of the sport.

Just look at soccernova's post---once again defending the American way when it comes to soccer and the rallying cry that Americans can not make progress in the sport. Why are we all spending so much money then? Why not wash our hands of it? What a defeatist attitude. But--it serves to justify the lack of results of the US Soccer Federation.

Somebody actually said that European academies don't involve education ??

Do you know anything about La Masia--arguably the best youth Soccer academy in the World--producing more than any other Club?

The players go to a top-notch private school for 6.5 hours a day. They are required to not only learn Catalan---but also two other foreign languages. Barcelona prides itself on developing the total man: athletics, values and academics. For instance, team officials said that a dozen players on Barcelona’s B team — as well as one of its stars, midfielder Andrés Iniesta — are taking college courses.

“This surprises people,” Carles Folguera, the director of the residence at La Masia, said through an interpreter. “They think the players are here to play football and not to study. We prepare them for sport, but also to have another future if sport does not work out.”
A private tour I was lucky enough to attend through private connections--I was able to meet former players that had no professional career (injuries, etc.)--but were top businessmen because of the education they were provided by the Academy. Bayern is similar. Ajax is similar.

"It's not defined by a single variable," said Carles Folguera, the academic director of La Masia. "There are many influencing factors that explain our success that is being recognized worldwide. It's a long process. It's not good to be in a hurry, so there's patience here. In that process you have good coaches, and you look not only for talent for the game, but you also look at personality -- how the kid tries to overcome obstacles and difficult moments, an injury or a coach who doesn't believe in him. So it's also about character, values."

Americans latch on to kids at 8, 9 years old and throw them out by 12. They want to push more and more phony leagues down to younger and younger ages. They don't invest in players. They don't even develop 99.9% of the 24.5 million kids playing the game.

Do you know how hard it is to find a single high quality trainer in the DMV???? This is the question I am asked on a daily basis by other parents at travel clubs around the region. Where are your kids training, how did they learn those skills, how can you help me--can you give me a name? There are far too many snake oil salesman in US youth soccer.

The most gain my kids make each year is in the time they spend away from the organized practices. Has anyone seen what constitutes the typical soccer practice at top Clubs around the area? Why isn't there more outrage? It's complete shit.

I see kids on top teams that have zero first touch, haven't learned the proper way to shoot, can't juggle a ball (which demonstrates control) past 20, barely have enough control to dribble a ball through cones, teams which can't even complete a 3-pass string. Watch the type of player that gets promoted up through the system. It's telling.

Interesting. It is the clubs fault that kids playing soccer cant juggle past 20?

[Anonymous]

^^yes. Many clubs don't use it as a warm-up tool. Many don't have a soccer culture. There are no rewards for time put in on their own to practice it.

Case in point--my own kid at 9 went from barely juggling 10 to over 1,000 in one summer. Not a single coach in the age group knew this. Why? They don't pay attention to the progress of any of the kids they claim to coach. They only watch about 10 out of the 65--the rest as another poster commented on--are thrown away/on the shit list before they reach 10. Kids in the US aren't pulling out the soccer tricks like kids in other countries because nobody can do them. You change the culture in your own club---and you'd be amazed at what you can accomplish when you start setting challenges. I still am amazed to attend top area tryouts and see maybe only 2-3 out of 150 warming up with juggling and other individual skill sets.

And, yes, the DOC/club directors, are to blame for lack of street soccer when they fill every other minute with some shitty pay-for-training that if a kid doesn't attend he gets a demerit next to his name. It's bad enough kids are subjected to 90 minutes 3 times a week of non-individualized/personal training but now any other free time they have to build their own game is taken away.

Yes--I do blame the Clubs when by 12 a player still can only use one foot. The training with weak foot in practice should have started much younger.

Yes-I do blame the Clubs when a player by 10 doesn't have correct shooting technique.

Yes-I do blame the Clubs when players can't properly receive a ball.

As a parent--I am paying $3500 a year and I still have to teach my kids how to play the game because nobody is teaching them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^yes. Many clubs don't use it as a warm-up tool. Many don't have a soccer culture. There are no rewards for time put in on their own to practice it.

Case in point--my own kid at 9 went from barely juggling 10 to over 1,000 in one summer. Not a single coach in the age group knew this. Why? They don't pay attention to the progress of any of the kids they claim to coach. They only watch about 10 out of the 65--the rest as another poster commented on--are thrown away/on the shit list before they reach 10. Kids in the US aren't pulling out the soccer tricks like kids in other countries because nobody can do them. You change the culture in your own club---and you'd be amazed at what you can accomplish when you start setting challenges. I still am amazed to attend top area tryouts and see maybe only 2-3 out of 150 warming up with juggling and other individual skill sets.

And, yes, the DOC/club directors, are to blame for lack of street soccer when they fill every other minute with some shitty pay-for-training that if a kid doesn't attend he gets a demerit next to his name. It's bad enough kids are subjected to 90 minutes 3 times a week of non-individualized/personal training but now any other free time they have to build their own game is taken away.

Yes--I do blame the Clubs when by 12 a player still can only use one foot. The training with weak foot in practice should have started much younger.

Yes-I do blame the Clubs when a player by 10 doesn't have correct shooting technique.

Yes-I do blame the Clubs when players can't properly receive a ball.

As a parent--I am paying $3500 a year and I still have to teach my kids how to play the game because nobody is teaching them.

So when in all of this do you as a parent take responsibility for what your kid could do away from the game to improve? When do you as a parent take responsibility for keeping your kid in an environment that you recognize as poor development for your kid?

Practice should not be where kids learn to juggle. That is something that any kid, in a home where soccer is a culture will do. Juggling is something that knowledgeable parents will either teach or encourage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^yes. Many clubs don't use it as a warm-up tool. Many don't have a soccer culture. There are no rewards for time put in on their own to practice it.

Case in point--my own kid at 9 went from barely juggling 10 to over 1,000 in one summer. Not a single coach in the age group knew this. Why? They don't pay attention to the progress of any of the kids they claim to coach. They only watch about 10 out of the 65--the rest as another poster commented on--are thrown away/on the shit list before they reach 10. Kids in the US aren't pulling out the soccer tricks like kids in other countries because nobody can do them. You change the culture in your own club---and you'd be amazed at what you can accomplish when you start setting challenges. I still am amazed to attend top area tryouts and see maybe only 2-3 out of 150 warming up with juggling and other individual skill sets.

And, yes, the DOC/club directors, are to blame for lack of street soccer when they fill every other minute with some shitty pay-for-training that if a kid doesn't attend he gets a demerit next to his name. It's bad enough kids are subjected to 90 minutes 3 times a week of non-individualized/personal training but now any other free time they have to build their own game is taken away.

Yes--I do blame the Clubs when by 12 a player still can only use one foot. The training with weak foot in practice should have started much younger.

Yes-I do blame the Clubs when a player by 10 doesn't have correct shooting technique.

Yes-I do blame the Clubs when players can't properly receive a ball.

As a parent--I am paying $3500 a year and I still have to teach my kids how to play the game because nobody is teaching them.

So when in all of this do you as a parent take responsibility for what your kid could do away from the game to improve? When do you as a parent take responsibility for keeping your kid in an environment that you recognize as poor development for your kid?

Practice should not be where kids learn to juggle. That is something that any kid, in a home where soccer is a culture will do. Juggling is something that knowledgeable parents will either teach or encourage.

Knowledgeable parents. The poster is claiming there is zero soccer culture in this Country over and over again---and zero knowledgeable soccer parents. IF that is the case--don't the kids have to learn the Culture somewhere? A good coach or Club would be the next best option. No? This is the one that creates rewards and challenges for the kid that can show up at the end of the season with them most consecutive juggles, or quickest # in a minute, etc. This is the coach that tells the kids when they are on the sidelines waiting to practice to start juggling.

A big factor in this area is TRAFFIC. Sometimes the poorest training option is the closest. The dilemma becomes--drive farther away and sit in traffic or pay even more $ to supplement everything your Club is lacking.

I have no qualms about having my kid skip a practice for quality one-on-one training in the early years or skipping a club-sponsored training or camp when I find higher quality ones elsewhere. Below 13--a kid should be working on being the best individual player he/she can be. Clubs have no loyalty--they shouldn't expect it in players either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^yes. Many clubs don't use it as a warm-up tool. Many don't have a soccer culture. There are no rewards for time put in on their own to practice it.

Case in point--my own kid at 9 went from barely juggling 10 to over 1,000 in one summer. Not a single coach in the age group knew this. Why? They don't pay attention to the progress of any of the kids they claim to coach. They only watch about 10 out of the 65--the rest as another poster commented on--are thrown away/on the shit list before they reach 10. Kids in the US aren't pulling out the soccer tricks like kids in other countries because nobody can do them. You change the culture in your own club---and you'd be amazed at what you can accomplish when you start setting challenges. I still am amazed to attend top area tryouts and see maybe only 2-3 out of 150 warming up with juggling and other individual skill sets.

And, yes, the DOC/club directors, are to blame for lack of street soccer when they fill every other minute with some shitty pay-for-training that if a kid doesn't attend he gets a demerit next to his name. It's bad enough kids are subjected to 90 minutes 3 times a week of non-individualized/personal training but now any other free time they have to build their own game is taken away.

Yes--I do blame the Clubs when by 12 a player still can only use one foot. The training with weak foot in practice should have started much younger.

Yes-I do blame the Clubs when a player by 10 doesn't have correct shooting technique.

Yes-I do blame the Clubs when players can't properly receive a ball.

As a parent--I am paying $3500 a year and I still have to teach my kids how to play the game because nobody is teaching them.

So when in all of this do you as a parent take responsibility for what your kid could do away from the game to improve? When do you as a parent take responsibility for keeping your kid in an environment that you recognize as poor development for your kid?

Practice should not be where kids learn to juggle. That is something that any kid, in a home where soccer is a culture will do. Juggling is something that knowledgeable parents will either teach or encourage.

Knowledgeable parents. The poster is claiming there is zero soccer culture in this Country over and over again---and zero knowledgeable soccer parents. IF that is the case--don't the kids have to learn the Culture somewhere? A good coach or Club would be the next best option. No? This is the one that creates rewards and challenges for the kid that can show up at the end of the season with them most consecutive juggles, or quickest # in a minute, etc. This is the coach that tells the kids when they are on the sidelines waiting to practice to start juggling.

A big factor in this area is TRAFFIC. Sometimes the poorest training option is the closest. The dilemma becomes--drive farther away and sit in traffic or pay even more $ to supplement everything your Club is lacking.

I have no qualms about having my kid skip a practice for quality one-on-one training in the early years or skipping a club-sponsored training or camp when I find higher quality ones elsewhere. Below 13--a kid should be working on being the best individual player he/she can be. Clubs have no loyalty--they shouldn't expect it in players either.

And do you think European clubs bother with juggling competitions or do you think it is just something that is expected? The fact that you think a club needs to mandate juggling should tell you everything there is to know about our soccer culture. Juggling should be the equivalent of playing catch in the back yard with a football or baseball.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^yes. Many clubs don't use it as a warm-up tool. Many don't have a soccer culture. There are no rewards for time put in on their own to practice it.

Case in point--my own kid at 9 went from barely juggling 10 to over 1,000 in one summer. Not a single coach in the age group knew this. Why? They don't pay attention to the progress of any of the kids they claim to coach. They only watch about 10 out of the 65--the rest as another poster commented on--are thrown away/on the shit list before they reach 10. Kids in the US aren't pulling out the soccer tricks like kids in other countries because nobody can do them. You change the culture in your own club---and you'd be amazed at what you can accomplish when you start setting challenges. I still am amazed to attend top area tryouts and see maybe only 2-3 out of 150 warming up with juggling and other individual skill sets.

And, yes, the DOC/club directors, are to blame for lack of street soccer when they fill every other minute with some shitty pay-for-training that if a kid doesn't attend he gets a demerit next to his name. It's bad enough kids are subjected to 90 minutes 3 times a week of non-individualized/personal training but now any other free time they have to build their own game is taken away.

Yes--I do blame the Clubs when by 12 a player still can only use one foot. The training with weak foot in practice should have started much younger.

Yes-I do blame the Clubs when a player by 10 doesn't have correct shooting technique.

Yes-I do blame the Clubs when players can't properly receive a ball.

As a parent--I am paying $3500 a year and I still have to teach my kids how to play the game because nobody is teaching them.

So when in all of this do you as a parent take responsibility for what your kid could do away from the game to improve? When do you as a parent take responsibility for keeping your kid in an environment that you recognize as poor development for your kid?

Practice should not be where kids learn to juggle. That is something that any kid, in a home where soccer is a culture will do. Juggling is something that knowledgeable parents will either teach or encourage.

Knowledgeable parents. The poster is claiming there is zero soccer culture in this Country over and over again---and zero knowledgeable soccer parents. IF that is the case--don't the kids have to learn the Culture somewhere? A good coach or Club would be the next best option. No? This is the one that creates rewards and challenges for the kid that can show up at the end of the season with them most consecutive juggles, or quickest # in a minute, etc. This is the coach that tells the kids when they are on the sidelines waiting to practice to start juggling.

A big factor in this area is TRAFFIC. Sometimes the poorest training option is the closest. The dilemma becomes--drive farther away and sit in traffic or pay even more $ to supplement everything your Club is lacking.

I have no qualms about having my kid skip a practice for quality one-on-one training in the early years or skipping a club-sponsored training or camp when I find higher quality ones elsewhere. Below 13--a kid should be working on being the best individual player he/she can be. Clubs have no loyalty--they shouldn't expect it in players either.

And do you think European clubs bother with juggling competitions or do you think it is just something that is expected? The fact that you think a club needs to mandate juggling should tell you everything there is to know about our soccer culture. Juggling should be the equivalent of playing catch in the back yard with a football or baseball.

Look--you are preaching to the choir. Did you miss the sentence where I said my 9-year old could already do over 1,000 consecutive juggles (both feet, other body parts)?

My kids are not the norm because they grew up with a mother that played soccer for 20 years and was kicking a soccer ball with them from the time they could stand. I can't throw a spiral and I certainly can't throw a baseball---but I could play soccer and that's what we did at the park. Thanksgiving extended family football matches---were futbol matches.

My husband coached our boys rec teams. The majority of his players came from parents that had never played soccer themselves or even watched a game on TV. He had all of these kids juggling and using both feet equally as well by the age of 7.

Yes--it would be great if American kids were actually juggling on their own initiative and practicing against a wall--but they aren't. The ones that aren't are most likely kids whose parents never played the sport. They think that the 3 team practices per week are already way too much soccer. So--how are they going to learn what they should be doing? Like my husband and father before him did,,,,,YOU TELL THEM. Whether you think it's a mandate or not---it gets the kids to start doing it and once they start seeing the great improvement and the pride that comes with it--the more and more they do it on their own. You know, it's called: coaching.

[Anonymous]

"Below 13--a kid should be working on being the best individual player he/she can be. Clubs have no loyalty--they shouldn't expect it in players either."

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

I love these posts. Where are you people? Where can I find you on weekends?! I have several kids and have had them play at several different clubs, both big and small, and it drives me fuckin' insane watching all these parents just accept the norm, thinking that dropping their kid off for these big team practices is doing anything. They don't even watch practice to understand, and then at games yell "send him/her" every time my DC gets the ball. When my young DC instead tries a difficult piece of individual skill in the middle third and makes a mistake, I instead get to witness groans from idiot parents, and a coach yelling at the player to play faster and don't possess so long. I completely agree that whenever one of my kids makes a giant stride forward, it has rarely anything to do with practice, and often everything to do with what they did on their own that month. We are totally screwed. And I am just baffled why, until I read posts like these, there seems to be no parents at these clubs that think the way we do! Kick and run fast is the #1 skill I see on many top teams. No one is yelling to play beautiful, possess, use skill, and find a more dangerous and daring option then just kicking it down to the forwards. I hate it. Hate it, hate it, hate it. I know this doesn't apply to everyone, but this does represent the system that my kids play in and that my spouse and I constantly have to "coach" our kids against before dropping them off at practice. We can see this problem, and my spouse and I were not even elite soccer players when younger. Again, where is the outrage from parents, and why aren't we demanding more from both our kids and clubs? I love the one coach I know who has his kids train on their own with a juggling log, etc., but every other coach we've had would never even know how many my children can do. They only positive reinforcement they get is from making juggling part of our family culture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^yes. Many clubs don't use it as a warm-up tool. Many don't have a soccer culture. There are no rewards for time put in on their own to practice it.

Case in point--my own kid at 9 went from barely juggling 10 to over 1,000 in one summer. Not a single coach in the age group knew this. Why? They don't pay attention to the progress of any of the kids they claim to coach. They only watch about 10 out of the 65--the rest as another poster commented on--are thrown away/on the shit list before they reach 10. Kids in the US aren't pulling out the soccer tricks like kids in other countries because nobody can do them. You change the culture in your own club---and you'd be amazed at what you can accomplish when you start setting challenges. I still am amazed to attend top area tryouts and see maybe only 2-3 out of 150 warming up with juggling and other individual skill sets.

And, yes, the DOC/club directors, are to blame for lack of street soccer when they fill every other minute with some shitty pay-for-training that if a kid doesn't attend he gets a demerit next to his name. It's bad enough kids are subjected to 90 minutes 3 times a week of non-individualized/personal training but now any other free time they have to build their own game is taken away.

Yes--I do blame the Clubs when by 12 a player still can only use one foot. The training with weak foot in practice should have started much younger.

Yes-I do blame the Clubs when a player by 10 doesn't have correct shooting technique.

Yes-I do blame the Clubs when players can't properly receive a ball.

As a parent--I am paying $3500 a year and I still have to teach my kids how to play the game because nobody is teaching them.

So when in all of this do you as a parent take responsibility for what your kid could do away from the game to improve? When do you as a parent take responsibility for keeping your kid in an environment that you recognize as poor development for your kid?

Practice should not be where kids learn to juggle. That is something that any kid, in a home where soccer is a culture will do. Juggling is something that knowledgeable parents will either teach or encourage.

Knowledgeable parents. The poster is claiming there is zero soccer culture in this Country over and over again---and zero knowledgeable soccer parents. IF that is the case--don't the kids have to learn the Culture somewhere? A good coach or Club would be the next best option. No? This is the one that creates rewards and challenges for the kid that can show up at the end of the season with them most consecutive juggles, or quickest # in a minute, etc. This is the coach that tells the kids when they are on the sidelines waiting to practice to start juggling.

A big factor in this area is TRAFFIC. Sometimes the poorest training option is the closest. The dilemma becomes--drive farther away and sit in traffic or pay even more $ to supplement everything your Club is lacking.

I have no qualms about having my kid skip a practice for quality one-on-one training in the early years or skipping a club-sponsored training or camp when I find higher quality ones elsewhere. Below 13--a kid should be working on being the best individual player he/she can be. Clubs have no loyalty--they shouldn't expect it in players either.

And do you think European clubs bother with juggling competitions or do you think it is just something that is expected? The fact that you think a club needs to mandate juggling should tell you everything there is to know about our soccer culture. Juggling should be the equivalent of playing catch in the back yard with a football or baseball.

Look--you are preaching to the choir. Did you miss the sentence where I said my 9-year old could already do over 1,000 consecutive juggles (both feet, other body parts)?

My kids are not the norm because they grew up with a mother that played soccer for 20 years and was kicking a soccer ball with them from the time they could stand. I can't throw a spiral and I certainly can't throw a baseball---but I could play soccer and that's what we did at the park. Thanksgiving extended family football matches---were futbol matches.

My husband coached our boys rec teams. The majority of his players came from parents that had never played soccer themselves or even watched a game on TV. He had all of these kids juggling and using both feet equally as well by the age of 7.

Yes--it would be great if American kids were actually juggling on their own initiative and practicing against a wall--but they aren't. The ones that aren't are most likely kids whose parents never played the sport. They think that the 3 team practices per week are already way too much soccer. So--how are they going to learn what they should be doing? Like my husband and father before him did,,,,,YOU TELL THEM. Whether you think it's a mandate or not---it gets the kids to start doing it and once they start seeing the great improvement and the pride that comes with it--the more and more they do it on their own. You know, it's called: coaching.

No you are not getting it or understanding it.

The "norm" needs to be parents who understand the game who teach their kids juggling on their own. Parents should be teaching the fundamentals, not a soccer club. Would you send your kid to kindergarten not know the alphabet? No, but that is what is happening when kids are joining soccer. There is no cultural core competency for soccer in this nation, none.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love these posts. Where are you people? Where can I find you on weekends?! I have several kids and have had them play at several different clubs, both big and small, and it drives me fuckin' insane watching all these parents just accept the norm, thinking that dropping their kid off for these big team practices is doing anything. They don't even watch practice to understand, and then at games yell "send him/her" every time my DC gets the ball. When my young DC instead tries a difficult piece of individual skill in the middle third and makes a mistake, I instead get to witness groans from idiot parents, and a coach yelling at the player to play faster and don't possess so long. I completely agree that whenever one of my kids makes a giant stride forward, it has rarely anything to do with practice, and often everything to do with what they did on their own that month. We are totally screwed. And I am just baffled why, until I read posts like these, there seems to be no parents at these clubs that think the way we do! Kick and run fast is the #1 skill I see on many top teams. No one is yelling to play beautiful, possess, use skill, and find a more dangerous and daring option then just kicking it down to the forwards. I hate it. Hate it, hate it, hate it. I know this doesn't apply to everyone, but this does represent the system that my kids play in and that my spouse and I constantly have to "coach" our kids against before dropping them off at practice. We can see this problem, and my spouse and I were not even elite soccer players when younger. Again, where is the outrage from parents, and why aren't we demanding more from both our kids and clubs? I love the one coach I know who has his kids train on their own with a juggling log, etc., but every other coach we've had would never even know how many my children can do. They only positive reinforcement they get is from making juggling part of our family culture.

Big hugs. And who is the douche that keeps responding to my posts that we don't get it????

His analogies are fucking painful. He wants us to pay $3500/year AND does not want to teach any soccer fundamentals. You can't make this shit up.

Hey Buddy---we haven't achieved 'THE FUCKING NORM". The US is like a bad inner city public school (to use your school analogy). Yes---parents send their kids to Kindergarten not knowing the alphabet or their numbers everyday. Do we tell the teachers---screw it!!! His parents didn't teach him the fundamentals--don't you guy teaching them to him.

In the 70s---as a girl---nobody in my house knew anything about soccer. The Dutch guy that ran the local soccer shop taught my siblings and I. Thank god--he didn't care we didn't come equipped with fundamentals.