TOLA simply stands for Talent given the Opportunity to Adapt and Learn.

I am not a full-time coach. I work for a living, but I coach in my spare time whether in the evenings and at the weekend.

I coach recreational and competitive soccer teams. I grew up in Ireland playing Gaelic football, hurling, basketball, golf, and soccer. When I moved to Texas in 2016, I was shocked at the lack of quality coaching in youth sports, not just soccer but many other sports all the way up to High School level. There was simply a lack of focus on the fundamental skills. There was over specialization at too young an age. The cost of playing sports was a barrier to entry. There were volunteer coaches, and their coaching skills were rudimentary. Yes, they were giving up their time, but having watched their teams, I could see that their players were not improving.

I also coach because others coached me when I was younger, and these coaches were all volunteers.

I coach because I want the children I coach to develop as persons and players. I want to be the absolute best coach I can be and to give those children  the best coaching I can give them.

It wasn’t always like that though.

I started coaching when I stopped playing at the age of 36. I thought I knew what I was doing but I quickly realized I was a bad coach. So, for the last 14 years, I have focused on trying to understand youth development in sports and improving my coaching.

Coaching adults is completely different to youth development. The focus on adult teams is winning and not development. As a youth coach, I have perhaps lost as many as 80% of games but my focus has always been on teaching the players good technique with an understanding of the passing game.

Whilst the players may lose a lot of games at the younger age, with proper technical & cognitive development, these same players will be winning most of their games at the age of 16. I have witnessed too many clubs, teams and coaches who focus on winning using a long ball type game. The clubs they are involved with appear to lack a vision, plan & methodology for the development of players. They charge fees from the parents, but they are not developing the players. My teams played these local teams, and invariably always lost at U12-U15 level. They played a long ball game, otherwise known as “kick and chase” or “boot ball”. It was hard to lose to these teams because we would play them off the park but lose because of our mistakes. They would take the glory in winning but I had to swallow my ego and know that I was in it for the long term.

To understand what I mean, read the following quote from Laureano Ruiz.

“Let us say that you and I coach two teams with kids that are 10, 11, and 12 years old and all are about equally good. You try to teach them to play good football, a passing game and with tactical basics while I tell mine to only play long balls and try to shoot. I can assure you that [at first] I will always win against you, by using your mistakes. Break a bad pass and goal. If we however continue with the same training methods during a three-year period, you will most likely win every game against us. Your players will have learned how to play while mine haven’t. That’s how easy it is.”

Those same players who beat us at the younger level now cannot control a ball, cannot pass a ball to feet, and do not have the fundamental skills. Perhaps they can all run after a ball, but they cannot play soccer.

By contrast, the boys and girls that I have coached have high technical ability and understand the game from a tactical perspective. Even with COVID and the subsequent disbanding of the club, many of those players are still playing.

Two of them, my sons were playing at the highest level in Texas, with the Austin FC professional academy. Most of the other boys are playing high school soccer. Others have moved to different local clubs. But crucially, at that age of 16/17, they are all still playing, having fun, and they understand the game.

Recently, I had a mother explain to me that in the 7 years her son played with a local soccer Club in Central Texas, her son progressively became worse. After several months training and playing with me, she was overjoyed to see the improvement. But by that time, he was 14 and the damage had been done. It was too late to reverse the harm that those 7 years had done. Instead of him having good fundamentals so that he could control the ball, the ball controlled hm. When you don’t have the fundamental skills, the game becomes a chore, and he was no longer enjoying the game. As such, he decided to hang up his boots.

Another boy I know, recently left a local club where his parents were heavily involved as administrators, coaches, and team managers. I suspect they finally realized that their son was being exposed to a lack of quality coaching. He now travels to Austin, 3 nights a week to play for a team where their son is in a better environment, playing with better & committed players, and better coaching.

But let me ask the question; why did those two boys’ clubs not do better in nurturing their talent? There are many answers to this question but primarily it is a lack of vision, and a failure to implement a coaching methodology best suited to youth development.  

I want clubs to have the best volunteer coaches and I want those volunteer coaches to be knowledgeable. Children deserve better environments in which to play, better coaching and they deserve better coaches creating those better environments.

Qualifications
IFA Foundation level qualification
APFC certified coach – www.apfcourses.com
UEFA B1 License (Irish FA C & D license)