My Ideal Yellowknife Soccer Pyramid

A few months ago after a training session with my men's team, I was talking to a couple of my teammates about the structure of soccer in Yellowknife and how it needs a major reform. Soccer here in the north is unlike any other of Canada I am am familiar with, as there is a very limited outdoor season (for adults as there is no outdoor youth league), an indoor league that isn't affiliated with the NWT Soccer Association which only offers games with no training sessions, and 2 clubs that focus on development but don't have any competition to compete against in the remote area and must travel down south to get some meaningful competition.

When I arrived home from that training session I drafted up a little note of what I would like to see soccer in the biggest city of the Northwest Territories evolve so that we can produce more players, and provide players with the right fundamentals from a young age so that if they are looking to compete at a higher level when they get older they will have the required skills. Here is what I came up with.

U4- Intro division: Players are introduced to the basics of the game where they will partake in a weekly 30 minute skill session followed by 30 minute small sided games. These sessions will be ran by club staff and junior coaches who are looking to give back to the game.

U6: One hour long development session run by club staff, along with a weekly game. 

U8-U14: Weekly training sessions conducted by the club staff along with a weekly game. There will also be "competitive" all-star teams comprised of players from the various teams in the house league (u8, u10, u12, u14) that will have an additional training session with the selected players only. These teams will participate in tournaments (varies on team), and these teams will be picked by the head coach who will be appointed by the club. 

U16-U18: These age groups will operate like the divisions below with the exception that the "all-star" team would participate in the adult league.

Adults: The organization will operate an adult league, and depending on numbers offer various divisions based on skill levels, and gender. In this division individuals will be allowed to create their own teams to enter the league.

Coaches: For any one who would like to coach a recreational team, they will need to complete the required stage(s) of coaching certification for the age group(s) that they would like to coach. To coach an "all-star" team or be a club coach that helps run the club training programs, they will need to have a minimum requirement of completing all stages of the community coaching stream, and will need to go through an interview process to be selected. The club would provide the courses for the coaches each season and if the coaches are looking to complete their national levels offered out of province, the club will help aid the coaches to do so.

The goal of the club will be to promote soccer in Yellowknife in a properly structured manner in accordance with the CSA and LTPD. For the competitive players, they will have the opportunity to train and play with players at the same level as they are to help to continue their growth in the game.

The reason why I would like to see this happen is because right now soccer in this city is very disjointed and we're doing a disservice to the younger generations by not providing them with the right tools to develop their games. Along with the players, it will also provide young or new referees the opportunities to officiate games that are more suited for their level instead of just being left with the only option to officiate in adult league games. 

When The Passion Leaves...

                It's been a while since I've last written here, and there are a few reasons behind that, but with me being pretty sick this weekend and not wanting to get out of bed I figured that today is a good day to write.

                

One of the reasons why I haven't written in quite a long time is because I have lost the full passion that I have had for the game (it's slowly coming back though). There are a few personal reasons why my passion has dwindled but I won't get into that. I have always said to myself though that when the game no longer becomes fun it's time to step away. Today I want to write a quick blog on this topic in regards to both players and coaches when it comes to the passion being gone.

               

  A couple of seasons ago I had a player's mother chat with me where she tried to help me convince her then 9 year old to stick with playing soccer after she had decided she wanted to participate in other activities. I think I may have caught her a little off guard when I said I can't do that. My reasoning/thought process behind that statement comes from my personal belief that if a player isn't interested in participating in a certain activity, there's really no point in forcing the individual to stick around, especially when the players are at a young age. When players are at a young age they are still trying to figure themselves out as people and to try and typecast into one sport for the rest of their lives (if it isn't their choice) is a bit foolish in my opinion, and they should be able to try to find the activity that brings them the most happiness. I'm a firm believer that kids should be provided with as many opportunities to find themselves while growing up.

                

From a coaching stand point, it's not fair to the coach, or to other teammates when one of their teammates has no interest in being there. They often become a distraction to the rest of the group as they have little interest and they could be potentially be taking the place of another individual who may not be as skilled, but has the eagerness to learn. I know personally as a coach I'd prefer to work with a player who is less skilled but is wanting to get better at any cost in comparison to a player who may be a bit more skilled but has little interest in being there.

                

I would like to point out that while you were reading this article, I wasn't talking about players giving up the sport because they're going through a difficult patch (team isn't winning as much, not having as much fun in their current environment), but I'm talking about the individuals that truly don't have interest in participating in the sport any more. This also goes for coaches as well, because if they're not interested then they are doing a complete disservice to their players.

                

As I said I'm not feeling too well so I'm going to be wrapping this one up now.

Cheers!

Creating a Better Environment

So it's been awhile since I've written a blog, but tonight I came across a great read titled Coaches 10 Commandments for a Great Season (found here: http://girlscansocceradventures.wordpress.com/2013/08/14/coaches-10-commandments-for-a-great-season/) and it inspired me to come up with some of my own tips on what can help lead to a great season, and great relationships amongst your team.

Come With A Proper Session Plan:

This is quite possibly the most important thing a coach can do, as player development and game preparation starts on the training pitch. There's nothing worse seeing a session being ran where there is no specific topic that you can see the players working on, and the different drills have no or very little connection to one another. This is important in the development of players as they will be having the point you're trying to get across to them engrained into them all practice, and thus they can focus on those principles that you're teaching them. With that being said, as a coach you should focus on only coaching points related to the topic that you're teaching. I know it may be hard, but in the end it's for the better. If you're coaching drills for strikers, then there should be very little focus on defensive points that session. Another thing to remember is make the session plan applicable to the level you are coaching. There's no sense in running a session that is below or well above the player's level as they will end up gaining very little from the session.

Listen To Your Players:

I've made reference to this in prior blogs, but I have personally found this to be one of the most important tools when coaching. As a coach you may have your own ideas, but it is very important to ask your players engaging open ended (not yes/no) that allow them to think about the importance of what you're teaching, why THEY think it may be useful, and when they can use it in a game situation. I've also found that this is particularly useful with younger aged players because (I'm guilty of this sometimes) us as coaches will explain a drill in terms that we understand, but the majority of your players don't. From here I have had many times where my players have been able to in the most basic of terms so that everyone can understand.

Don't Be Afraid To Have Fun (It's Not A Sin to Have A Laugh):

At the end of the day soccer is a game, and I'm a firm believer that if the player isn't enjoying the game anymore then it may be time for them to hang-up the boots (I know it seems bad to say). Fun can be had in many ways though through a training session. Coaches can do this by turning certain drills into small competitions (that will also increase the intensity), or mixing things up a bit so you're teaching them soccer related topics but in different manners (such as hand ball to teach off ball movement). Sometimes you also have to put your own pride to the side and let loose, like allowing your players to dye your hair, agreeing for them to choose your wardrobe for a day if they complete a specific task that you ask of them. When working with older groups, don't be afraid to revert back to small activities/drills that they may have done at much younger ages as sometimes it can lift their spirits to just go out and have fun. One comment that has stuck with me came over this past winter session when I was running a session for my club's u17 girls team. I had the players do a taxi race and when they were finished that I heard a player say to her teammates "Who knew fitness could actually be fun?"

When working with younger players (u8-u11), one of the best pieces of advice I received when I just started out coaching was that "About every 6 weeks, there will be a practice which is a complete throw away". What this coach meant was that the players are kids and there will be a session (if you're training multiple times a week) where their focus just won't be there no matter what you do. These are the days where instead of getting angry and sending players out, you grab your bibs, call them in split them into teams and just let them play.

Team Bonding:

One of the things that I'm really in disagreement with the OSA is their elimination of tournaments for players from u8-u12, and not for the chance to win a meaningless trophy (eventually life will trash all your trophies), but for the fact that it takes away opportunities for the players and their families to bond together off the pitch. Very few if any of the players you coach will go pro, but the bonds and friendships they will develop can last a lifetime. Ways you can provide these bonding moments as a coach is by organizing team parties/bbq's, fundraising events such as carwashes, or going to watch a professional game just to name a few things. This also allows you to learn more about the players that you coach away from the pitch.

24 Hour Rule:

Sometimes as coaches we don't like to interact with parents all too much when it pertains to the game. One of the most useful tools I always implement with any team I'm coaching is the 24 hour rule. What this is, is a rule that if there are any issues (bad OR GOOD) things don't get discussed until at least 24 hours after the event. The reason behind this is because when something happens immediately individuals may be filled with emotions and say things that they may regret shortly after. This goes for coaches too when it comes to dealing with parents on how a player(s) may be behaving. If the emotions are still there after 24 hours, then the majority of the time it is an actual valid concern, and not just a heat of the moment thing.

Look for the Positives:

Especially when you're coaching younger players, it is always very important to look for the positives no matter how things may be going. If the team happens to play a "bad" game, you may be a bit angry but after you might let them know of areas that may need improvement on, you should try your best to end your post game/practice talk with a couple positive points. The reason why this is important is because it shows the players that you still have faith in them, and that they know some things still went okay.

These are just a few of my thoughts that can help lead to a more positive team environment.  The better the environment is, the more enjoyable it is for the players, and it will make them wanting to come back pitch that much more.

Let Players Touch the Ball

As a coach and spectator of many games, there is very few things less settling than seeing players who receive a ball in a game, and their automatic reaction is to kick the ball away! This is very frustrating to watch because the majority of times these players have many different options to either dribble or to make a pass to help maintain possession of the ball, yet this doesn't seem to happen as often because often time players are afraid to make a mistake or even worse they lack the confidence to control, dribble, and take players on because they weren't taught these fundamentals from a young age.

A way to avoid this in players and helping them build their confidence on the ball can start at a young (u4-u12) and it comes down to coaching. At the younger ages it is very important that players are doing things that constantly involve them having a ball at their feet, or leaning to control a ball in many different passions, so that when it comes to games they are comfortable to deal with that situations. From the ages of u4-u7 every player should have a ball at their feet during training sessions with the focus being on using different surfaces of the foot, different movements of the feet such as turning, step-overs, stopping and accelerating, throwing the ball up in the air and having them control it with other parts of their body (bringing it down with their chest, feet, thighs, or head) will help build their confidence of getting the ball when they face such situations during games. As the players get a bit older (u8-u12) drills that focus on players dribbling at defenders and then taking them on trying to beat them should be encouraged. Things such as receiving the ball with their back to goal and a defender on them, which then you encourage the player to try to turn and beat that defender, receiving the ball  going directly at the defender trying to beat them, and even teaching players how to dribble out of the back because for defenders that is a great asset to have if they have the confidence to join in the attack or start the attack in a manner other than just punting a hail-marry up the pitch.  Even as the kids get older (depending on how many training sessions they have a week) one should be completely focused on ball mastery.

With that being said one of the most important things I've observed as a coach to help change this attitude of fear players may have is during different types of games at the younger ages is instead of putting a maximum amount of touches a player may take, coaches should set a minimum amount of touches. With me I often like to set the minimum amount of touches for players at 3. The reasoning behind this is so that the player can receive the pass, take a touch with their head up, and then make a decision by seeing the field as to whether they should dribble, make a pass or have a shot. I find this to be very successful as players tend to become more comfortable with the ball, and as mentioned before (and most importantly) they observe the field in front of them to make their decision. If they realize they have space to take the ball no matter their position (including keepers) should be utilizing that space to go forward. If they have been taught there is nothing wrong with taking a player on and they have had a lot of practice of doing  so you will see the confidence build in them.  

OPDL: Where Changes Should Be Made

As I've stated before, I think the idea of LTPD and the OPDL are very great in concept, but with that being said, I think there has been a major lack of communication and structural set up by the OSA with all the clubs involved in the process. There are many naysayers out there who appear to want this league to fail, while others think this is the saving grace for Canadian soccer. Where do I stand in this whole situation? Although I'd love to see this league succeed, unless there are changes made by the OSA quickly, I can't see this league obtaining its full purpose. From the majority of talk I am hearing via soccer blogs and twitter there are many flaws currently going on with the process at the moment (I don't know if the talk is all true, but I believe a lot of it is). I'm not going to get into prices, lack of inclusion of academies, demographics and other issues, but I will be talking about where the OSA/Clubs are still failing the players.

If the OPDL is supposed to be a league for Elite players...

When this league was introduced, many individuals believed (and still do) that this league is supposed to be for the "elite" players in the province. If this was the case the OSA failed miserably right from the get go.  Taken right from the OSA page, they describe the league as this:

"OPDL represents young players' early graduation to a genuine high performance training environment, targeting only the top athletes in the province from age groups U13 to U23 with what will be the highest level of competitive youth soccer in Ontario."

With this statement being made by the OSA, for the league to be truly for the top athletes, the way they granted teams should have been completely differently. If they wanted it to be for the "top players" (I find it a bit hard to claim 12/13 year olds are "top level players", then this league should have moved away from clubs being appointed teams, but instead ran as a district league. What this would allow for is to players from teams an opportunity to play relatively close to home (depending on district size),  provide clubs with an opportunity to pride themselves on how many players they could promote to the next level, costs could be unified being supplemented by clubs in that district having to pay some of their district fees to the program (they already give money from registrations to the district), and for the larger districts they could possibly have 2 teams.

Despite the OSA claiming that this is for the top athletes, they contradict themselves in other documents as they say that this league is about development of the player. With the development of the player being the focus of the league, from what is being talked about by individuals from the Ontario soccer world, then the clubs are failing from this aspect.

OPDL, the Developmental League...

With rumours circulating that many clubs are struggling to find players, and more importantly RELEASING players, clubs are failing, and despite the focus being about "development" the old problem of wanting the best players currently still exist. For those that follow me on twitter, you may know that sometimes Jason De Vos and I don't always see eye to eye on things, but yesterday we did come to an agreement on one major issue. After having a back and forth discussion I tweeted: 

"If it's about elite training then coaches should, be taking almost any decent player willing to join the program" 

Jason agreed with statement, and provided quite possibly the best response to what these clubs should be doing with 

"You are absolutely spot on. It's not about the kids who are currently "the best". It's about the ones if want to be.  

I couldn't agree with this anymore, if clubs are receiving players who want to get better by receiving elite training year round, and these coaches who were hired are really good at developing players based on their qualifications, then they shouldn't be releasing players (they obviously have to have a bit of skill), but instead they should be taking them in to develop these players so that the talent pool can increase. The problems of "low numbers" could be resolved by this.

Why are coaches supposedly releasing so many players that are wanting to join the program? Is it possible that despite results not mattering in this league, coaches and clubs still want to get a WINNING team on the pitch?

Conclusion:

With the OPDL season slated to begin soon, the OSA and all the clubs need to make some changes to how this is being ran in order for it to operate properly. With development supposed to be the main focus of the league, players shouldn't be turned away, but instead embraced and taken in so that they can further their development so that in the long run they can actually produce some "elite" players in the future.

The Multi-Sport Athlete

With the Canadian World Juniors not winning a medal in their 2nd consecutive World Championships, our nation believes that hockey needs to change how the grass roots level is operating. This was spear headed by head coach Brent Sutter's comments after their bronze medal game loss saying that kids are being forced to focus on results at a young age instead of developing their skills, and everything they do is to hockey oriented from such a young age. These comments got a lot of the youth soccer community talking as this is what they are trying to eliminate from the game in Canada. While getting in on this topic, I ended up getting into a lengthy discussion with a couple coaches about players who are multi-sport athletes, and thus don't "focus enough on their soccer development". The comment that really got me thinking was when one coach wrote:

"I have coached a boy’s team in the past with several high level hockey players and for them and their families the hockey always came first. Admittedly, these soccer players played the sport in the summer to keep fit and when they did not get the majority of playing time they were upset. As a coach I don’t want to build a team with such players being the corner stone. I have the greatest respect for those athletes who can compete at a high level in multiple sports, but that does not change the need for total commitment to the team. Both hockey and soccer are a 9 to 10 month a year sport and therefore there will be conflicts. As a coach I could not in good conscience give majority of the playing time to a player who does not practice regularly with the team between September to March. So I am not saying that my view is correct, but it is my view."

This got me really going because I don't agree with it at all, and believe that by penalizing individuals for being talented in more than one sport might actually drive them away from the game. In regards to this specific issue, in my eyes if the player is able to be one of your top players when they come back to join the team in the summer, and they are committed to the team, then they deserve to play more than a less skilled player on the team. This particular coach said it wasn't in the best interest of the team to build it around players who weren't around all year. If the coach is truly looking out for the best interest of the team, then they should be putting out their best players no matter what their commitment is in the winter. If the coach is looking for the best interest of the players (which should be the main focus), then this is taking away from those talented players who have talents in multiple sports.

Having coached a team with many multi-sport athletes, I never really cared to put much focus on the indoor portion of year by having a slightly leaner policy on attendance for training, and never entering into an indoor league.  I believe that allowing players to participate in other sports in the off season has many benefits because it  allows them to work on different skills that might not happen in soccer, allows them to analyse the game in different ways, and most importantly won't lead them to burning out from being too consumed with soccer at a young age that by the time they reach 15 or 16 they want to quit. What I noticed with my group when we first started playing games at the competitive level, the players who played other sports had a much better sense of positioning in comparison to other players who just played house league soccer the year before.

The argument then came up of if we want to be producing world class players in Canada, then they should focus on soccer to develop their skills. In regards to this, a true reality check needed to be given. At the end of the day, a very small percentage (1%) will end up going pro. To me, the players that do end up going far with the sport are the ones who truly want it (not their parents, not their coaches, not their coaches, or their peers). These are the players that will show up to every training session possible, go out on their own without being told, grab a ball work on their touches and watch games whenever they have the opportunity. To many times it is everybody else who wants to see a player excel in soccer, but the player themselves may not. If the player truly doesn't have the desire then even if they train 10 months a year with their club, they won't go anywhere.

My view on the multisport athlete is that parents shouldn't take it away from them if they can afford it, and the child is enjoying it. The athletes who have aspirations of getting to the next level will show that on their own by their actions away from the team. If they are a multisport athlete, when the time is right for them, they will make the decision as to which sport THEY want to focus on.

Should Ontario Youth Footy Follow the A, AA, AAA Model

2013 has been quite an interesting year for youth soccer in Ontario mainly due to the creation of the 2nd standards based league the OPDL (SAAC is the first despite what the OSA may try to claim). Although in theory a great idea, the OSA has handled this completely wrong as they have concentrated the majority of the clubs in 2 areas that makes it quite hard for clubs to get the truly elite level players throughout the province involved in the "top" league. There has been many blogs, tweets, and post on various forums about this so I won't go into details about it.

Yesterday I came across a newspaper article from the Toronto Star written about the GTHL looking at downsizing (eliminating non-competitive teams) and as I briefly discussed with another individual on twitter, something that needs to happen in the "competitive" world of of youth soccer in Ontario, as there are far to many teams playing at the rep level, and this has severely water downed the level of play. In the case of the GTHL, it is more of a shift in demographics as the majority of organizations that are struggling are from the east end of the GTA, and the same shift has been seen in youth soccer as well where once the Scraborough Soccer Association use to be a power house, but that has now shifted to Peel-Halton being the dominant area in Ontario youth soccer.

After reading this article, it rekindled some thoughts that I had that I believe could help change the landscape off soccer in Ontario, keep things more competitive on the filed, and not dilute the level of rep soccer as much as it is now. What I believe should be done is what happens in almost every other competitive team sport in Ontario where organizations are classified as A, AA, or AAA. Why I believe this would be better for the game is so that it eliminate a lot of teams/players who shouldn't be playing at the rep level, rids coaches of thinking about promotion and relegation (win at all cost), and it would PLACE THE PLAYERS AT THE APPROPRIATE LEVEL THEY SHOULD BE PLAYING. Instead of coaches being viewed as "successful" for winning trophies, they now could be looked at being successful for how many players they are able to develop to play at the next level.

For this to work, what would need to happen is that organizations would need to be classified as having teams in either as A, AA, or AAA (they me be affiliated with a club, or a stand alone organization). For some of the smaller areas, if they would like a AAA or AA organization it would be 1 team in that region so that they are able to pull from the surrounding towns without having to really worry about competition for players in neighbouring towns, and in larger areas such as Mississauga there may be 2 AAA clubs, 3 AA, and 3 A clubs. From there at the start of every season there would be tryouts where coaches would pick their top 15-18 players to make up their rosters with the rest of the players who aren't selected either trying out for another team, or play in their local house league program for the summer (which if numbers provide, will have an all-star team).

The leagues themselves will have standings, but there would be no promotion or relegation for teams, and if a player is doing very well in their current level, then hopefully the next season they will try-out for a team at a higher level. Like the OPDL, to coach at different levels coaches would be required to have a particular coaching level so that players playing at the AAA level are getting trained by individuals who have had higher training themselves. The AAA level could be where the provincial/national coaches go out to scout (maybe some AA games as well). As time goes by, we will be seeing the top players playing at the top level while receiving level appropriate training, and the same thing throughout the other 2 levels as well.

The reason why I believe that this would be the best way for soccer to progress is that it won't stretch thin top level training (often times right now, club's technical staff are working with very large groups, and in all reality a lot of the players need to be working on the basics first), teams don't need to focus on finishing at the top of their league to move up, but instead it will be based upon the individual player themselves and their skill level, and it will also eliminate the abundance of "rep" teams that currently exist. This model is used in hockey, baseball, basketball, and lacrosse to name a few sports, and the Canadian national teams are able to compete much better than the majority of national soccer teams.