One Man's Modest Perspective

by Karl Keller 
karl_keller@HOTMAIL.COM

        A friend of mine, living in another state, whom I hadn't talked to a couple of years, has decided to move his 8 year old son into a travel soccer program; he knew that I had been a rec coach and an assistant in my kid's previous travel club.  He asked me for some advice/perspective on the whole process.  Here is what I e-mailed him, edited somewhat for context and privacy; I thought the list might glean a nugget or two.

       Well, congratulations on taking this next step.  Now that [my 12 year old] has moved from rec to travel to select, Dad is no longer involved in coaching. Hey, I miss it. But I love to discuss it.
        Over his 6-year career, my son has been exposed to a number of different coaches. After a series of Dad rec coaches - including me - he has been coached by a former Division 1 player (a great kid who was a terrible teacher), an out-of-control anger-challenged Caribbean ex-pro (fired after his first season); a former Latin American and local professional (a guy with little sense of a "curriculum" - more about that later - but instead a constant harp on "playing strong").
         He has gone to the local HS coach's camp -- a former National team player from Haiti, a great guy, and a great coach. (Camps -- now THERE's a subject worth of its own extended discussion). He says he looks forward to having my son play for him in HS.
         His current club coach has an unbelievable pedigree -- not only as a top pro with national team caps and a career in 3 professional leagues, but a full time youth coach for the last decade or so, a guy who not only knows his soccer, but knows his pedagogy, too -- pretty much an unbeatable combination.  But even he yells at the kids, so remember, no situation is perfect.
         Still, after 6 years, I have gotten him into a pretty productive situation. Hey, and you wonder why it ONLY took 6 years? Fumbling around is my forte! You probably will too, but that's OK.
         You may get a great coach, or a not so great coach; it's often a crapshoot when you first start out. But it's likely whoever you get will be doing this for the love of it, and so should be respected for that, even if you don't agree with the approach.
          I never played competitive soccer growing up. But having watched a lot - WAY too much according to my wife -- of youth soccer over the past 6 years, some of it really bad, coached by really terrible coaches, and some of it very good indeed, and coached by terrific coaches, including non-playing Dads; and having read lots of books and seen lots of videos, and seen about a couple dozen MLS games in person, and countless more professional and national team games on TV; and having attended coach's clinics and licensing, and gotten my Grade 8 referee's license, I guess I do have at least a modest perspective on the whole enterprise.



So, here goes.

1. Take the deep view.

         Learning to play the game properly from both a technical AND tactical point of view requires significant depth in learning and understanding. To the uninitiated and naive observer -- and that means the vast majority of soccer moms and dads -- the game is run, kick. . .run kick. That's why youth soccer is so rabidly popular in this country, it all just seems so simple out there for Johnny and Susie to run around on a Saturday afternoon.
           To me, the proper analogy is to mathematics. You just don't go immediately from multiplication tables to algebraic inequalities. You've got to lay a foundation, slowly and methodically. Of course, there are the occasional prodigies out there, but don't count on it for your kid, or any of his teammates. A Ramos, Reyna, or Donovan come along once every 6 years or so...if that.

2. Take the long view...but not too long.
        What happens in the 4th game of the Fall U9 season is IRRELEVANT to the long-term soccer prospects of your kid. Kids progress at different rates -- and this is the really hard part -- some kids REgress at different rates. Trust me, I know about his first hand. Parents and coaches need to take a 3-month, 6-month, 1-year, 2 year view.
        With apologies to Jack Welch, progress is our most important product. Are skills getting better? Muscle memory? Are the kids "getting it" - even if its in dribs and drabs?
         Progress also needs to be measured realistically. Maybe Bobby can't do a bicycle kick at U12, while Johnny can, but does Bobby know how position himself to receive correctly instinctively by this age? If not, he has not progressed appropriately.
        Remember, coaches can always improve technical shortcomings, but you WILL run out of time. I believe strongly that you must get the fundamentals of technique down by age 14--otherwise, it's too late.

3. Lay the technical foundation first, but systematically.

         As non-player coaches like me can attest first hand, most people don't have a clue how difficult it is to master the range of techniques to play the game well. But you can't teach 'em everything all at once.
         In my mind, the youngest kids, say age (6-10), really need to concentrate almost exclusively on the "four feet things" -- i.e., receiving correctly the inside of the foot, passing correctly with the inside of the foot, dribbling with the instep with close control, and kicking with the instep.
         Of course, even these things have complicating factors, like getting your body into the right position, creating good body shape, keeping your head up, and so on and so on.
         You can expose kids to the other key technical things -- heading, receiving with chest and thigh, dribbling moves -- but if they can't do those 4 things well, they won't be able to improve.
           (By the way, my favorite video on teaching technical stuff is Roger Wilkinson's "One of One Coaching, Parent and Child " -- fabulous stuff. I'll send you some more links and video recommendations under separate cover).

4. Is there coaching, or is there a curriculum?

        The general bias in soccer coaching is to have ex-players teach kids. The reason, of course, is they can demonstrate good technique.  But the last time some of them, especially the very young ones,  heard about "lesson plans" was when they were in grade school. While I may disagree with some of the details, the low level USSF licensing stuff is good in this regard. Ask your new coach if he has gotten his license, or has taken the NSCAA courses.
       A coach needs goals and objectives, and then methods for achieving them. They can be modest, they can be pre-ordained, or they can be adjusted to the level of talent -- but they had better be there SOMEWHERE.

5. The Ideal record rule: 

        The Best League record for kids at U11 and under is 4 wins, 4 losses and 2 ties; the best tournament record is 1-1-1.
       Earlier on in my soccer dad career, when I bought way too much into the "hey, it's just to have fun," I mentioned to an experienced coach that , "It doesn't matter if they win...", I received the stern reply "it doesn't matter to you or me, but it matters to them." Bottom line, kids need to compete at a level that allows them to win some, lose some, and draw some. 
       Winning in the lower divisions? Move 'em on up.  Winning at the top of their age bracket? Have them play up.  Losing 70% or more of their games - move 'em on down till they succeed. They need to taste success, taste failure, taste frustration -- get at least a teensy bit out their comfort zone, but not so far that their confidence is shattered.

       Besides, it mollifies the hyper competitiveness of some parents, while your coach can make sure your kid is improving his first touch. And I guarantee that 99% of U9 parents will not be able to tell the difference between divisions in your league, nor will they be able to remember the record of their team 5 years later (unless they were 0-10 or 10-0, in which case you didn't follow the  "ideal record" rule).

       So a coach does need to teach some tactics. Over at the coach's listserve, Dennis Mueller has told the story of how Chicago Fire head coach Bob Bradley use to give the following instructions to his youth players -- "You play up front, you play in the middle, you play back and protect the goal." Hey, if one of the top American coaches has done it that way, maybe we should take a lesson, eh?

6. Some things you can't teach...but they can be learned.

       Kids are people -- sometimes we forget that. And one of the most important characteristics of a human being is that they can be brought to awareness.

       But just because you're aware, doesn't make you or the situation you face better; you need to do something about it.

       If your kid's moving into a more competitive environment, what he will find is that the ones who succeed work very hard, never ever give up, assume success, look beyond adversity, and learn from mistakes. None of this has anything to do with the fact that some are better athletes, better technically (though they have better technique in part because they have worked at it). It has to do with the mental aspect of the game, which is in the end the most significant part.

7. Yes it is fun...but it teaches lessons, too.

       Most kids are never going to play beyond high school. So it's important they learn the lessons -- why technique is important, why mental discipline is critical -- all of the good lessons athletics teach us.

       Perhaps the most important thing soccer teaches you is learning what I would call "the importance of the moment." And by that I mean whether it's in practice, or a game, what you do RIGHT NOW is critical. Not every drill is perfect, nor is every pass, dribbling sequence, receiving event, tackling effort, marking effort, or body movement. But the idea is to do the next event as best you can, in the right way at the right speed. You start stringing together those good moments and, voila, you get better, you get better, your team gets better. You can be up 6-1 or down 6-1, but nothing matters right then EXCEPT for that moment. Make that moment as good as you can.

       This is, by the way, the common ethic of the elite - professional player, the only difference is that he/she is probably a better athlete, more experienced, and more technically skilled. There is never a let-up, never a give up. But ANYONE, no matter what their level, can have that attitude.

        The winning or the losing, or how far your kid or my kid gets in the game, is, in the end, a lot less important than these life lessons the game teaches.

         One last comment. Jurgen Klinnsman, the great German international striker who retired recently, was asked what was the most important thing he took from the game.  His response was enlightening.  He didn't say winning the German League title, which he did; he didn't say winning the UEFA Cup title, which he did; and he didn't say winning a World Cup, which he did. 

         Instead, he said: "Because of soccer, I have friends everywhere."

Good luck and enjoy the adventure.
The time goes by fast.

          The above article was written by Karl Keller to the soccer-coach-l e-mail list on May 24th, 2001.  Karl was nice enough to allow me to publish it here.