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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The real question is at what age do the Alexandria players transition to full automatons. Does it take one or two years to strip them of creativity and joy for the game? I guess if you keep telling kids they are wrong if they don’t play the style we tell them, you can probably get it done in one season. If I remember my Star Trek, the borg was pretty efficient at this kind of thing.[/quote]

I get your point here.  I agree that Alexandria does seem to teach a little to much to a system - and that, as a consequence they become predictable which inhibits their results at older age groups, but that does not invalidate the fact that the kids develop good technical skills.  And I doubt that they permanently drive creativity out of the kids.[/quote]

I think the failure comes at trying to run before one can walk. I can teach a 10 year old how to go through the motions of algebra and get most of the questions correct; however, he won’t know any of the underlying concepts or be able to answer the question why. On top of that it will take a lot more effort and time just to have him look like he’s doing algebra. Now if I wait until the kid has developed in the basics of math, he’ll know both how and why he should use algebra. As an added bonus he will have spent a lot more time at the basics and will both be more proficient at those and will learn algebra more quickly. Any system that invests a lot of time early in concepts that are not age appropriate is poorly designed and likely to fail. With regard to the Alexandria approach, is this something they just made up or has some reputable third party validated the approach? Are the meh results at older ages a consequence spending too much time on non-age appropriate activities in the younger years instead of fully developing basic skills and concepts? I’ve always found the lack of understanding child development and eduction one of the more frustrating things about these ‘professional’ youth coaches. I think parents should not assume that because someone has given themselves a title that the person actually knows what they are doing. If your paying several thousand dollars a year to these clubs, ask questions and get fact driven answers.[/quote]

This is where we disagree.  I have seen a lot of the Alexandria kids (U14-U16) play - and they are well above average technically.  Whatever the failings of Alexandria's system might be (and nobody is perfect) it does not fail to instill the basics.[/quote]

Adding to this - I don't think Alexandria tries to run before it walks either.  Kids are perfectly capable of playing possession style soccer at a young age, and encouraging them to do so definitely helps develop good basic skills.  If there is a flaw - it is perhaps that the precise system of decision-making they teach is too rigid, and therefore at older ages the play becomes predictable and easy for a well organized team to defend.[/quote]

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