NEWS FROM OUR COACHES

On Wednesday, February 27th, AFC Lightning Soccer Club will be hosting a power point presentation on player development at Whitewater High School Auditorium. Jacob Daniel, GYSA head coach, will be leading the discussion. All our parents are encouraged to attend. As we start our spring season, I am excited about our coaches approach to working with our young players. Recently this subject has been the focus of many articles in several coaching journals. Manfred Schellscheidt, the under 14 National coach is someone I have worked with and it is interesting to read his comments about coaching young players. " Worrying too much about winning and losing gets in the way of development " He goes on to say, " Kids are naturally competitive. We should be concerned about players performance and not always the final score. Coaches should provide an environment that gives players a chance to enjoy the sport. Allow them to be creative, to express themselves and to bring their own personalities to the sport" John Hackworth, head of the U.S.Soccer Academy program and a former under 17 National team coach recently made the following statements. " The emphasis on winning is a detriment to young players because it prevents us from developing technically proficient players. We are not giving players the ability to make their own decisions. It is hard to find a game where coaches [and parents] are not telling kids what they should do and how they should do it. They should be allowed to make mistakes and take chances rather than being told what to do. We want competition, but a major emphasis on winning is not good for young players." Our philosophy at AFC mirrors these statements. It is vitally important that our players (and their families) enjoy the game and create a passion for the sport of soccer. They will learn more when they enjoy coming to practice. Read what four of the best players this country has produced told Soccer America about what influenced them during their early years in soccer. Claudio Reyna played in four World cups for the USA National team. He was initially coached by his father whose philosophy was to play first and win later. "He would rather us play well and lose than go out and play ugly and win. My father had us switching positions all the time." AFC encourages players in our small sided academy games and practices to play in different positions throughout the season. Even in our teams that play 11v11, players will get the chance to play in different positions. It will be hard, for instance, when our players try out for high school and the team already has players to fill their role. If they cannot adjust to another position, then their playing time will be limited. Mia Hamm needs no introduction. She credits pickup games as a key to her development. She emphasized the importance of dribbling skills. Coach Muccillo recently completed his Dutch indoor league for our young boys and girls. These games reflected pick up games. There was no coaching during the 4v4 games and players had to make their own decisions and influence other players. Players of different ages were playing together and everyone enjoyed themselves each week. Also, our academy structure at AFC places a large emphasis on 1v1 exercises and games. You will often see our coaches breaking down 1v1 moves and making sure each player works with their own ball as much as possible. Clint Dempsey joined MLS after college and now plays in the English premier league. He played for USA in the last World cup. He grew up in Dallas (often making 6 hour round-trips to practice). "The main thing is to love the game and play with passion. You have got to play whenever you can find a game. When I was alone, I would juggle, kick a ball against the wall or dribble by myself pretending I was in the middle of a big game." It is what you are doing when the coaches are not around that can make a difference. Watching games ( live or on TV ) can create a passion for the game. As high school games and MLS games are about to start, our families will have many opportunities to learn by watching games. Landon Donavan is the current captain and leading goal scorer on the US National team. He says he never remembered winning anything with his club teams growing up. He continues, "touch the ball as much as you can. Always be with a ball. If we never learn at an early age, to be good on the ball then it is useless." That is why mastering technical skills is so important. It will be difficult to discuss tactics and systems if players cannot perform basic skills. That is why our teams do a lot of technical training during practices. AFC has excellent coaches who can demonstrate and break down technical skills. I hope parents will attend the presentation in February. Hopefully, it will help everyone understand how players develop as we improve our players technically, tactically and physically while making sure they enjoy this great game. I look forward to seeing everyone on the fields very soon. Bob Moullin Director of Coaching AFC Lightning Soccer Club