WHY TOLA COACHING?
Brian Cox, the physicist once wrote:
“The problem with today’s world is that everyone believes they have the right to express their opinion and have others listen to it. The correct statement of individual rights is that everyone has the right to an opinion, but crucially, that opinion can be roundly ignored and even made fun of, particularly if it is demonstrably nonsense!”
So, this website contains my opinions on coaching, youth soccer, the pay-to-play model in the USA and some other coaching thoughts. The great thing is; you may agree or disagree and that is ok.
TOLA coaching is a coaching resource and the reason I created it was to help others. There are resources about coaching soccer, but in the blog, I will talk about other sports because good coaching is not sport specific. Good coaching is focused on the person, creating positive inter-personal relationships and less so on the sport.
I moved to the United States in 2016 and I saw first-hand how poor the coaching was in youth sports especially in the sports my children were playing; soccer, golf; basketball. Furthermore, I was shocked at the cost of youth sports outside of school and the pressure placed upon young boys and girls in youth sports.
In youth soccer, I further witnessed the corrosive “pay to play” model that dominates the US soccer scene. This is a model that is uniquely American and is socially inequitable. Parents pay thousands of dollars to have their children join local clubs. The cost for a year varies widely from club to club, from as little as $700 per year up to $5,000 plus the cost of uniforms, the cost of travel and hotel accommodation, the cost of paying for the coaches to stay in hotels and the cost of participating in tournaments.
There is nothing socially equitable in this model and is completely at odds with the European model, where children pay the equivalent of $25 per year to join a club and have no other costs. Those clubs work hard to develop players, their coaches are of a very high level, and they look to sell this well-developed talent to professional clubs in England and Scotland. The money they receive from the sale of these players goes back into the youth development of these clubs.
But in the US, there is no opportunity for clubs to sell their players abroad until the age of 18 and the only clubs who might have this opportunity are very limited in number, primarily the MLS academy teams. So, there is limited development, and the competitive soccer scene is of an inferior quality to that in Europe.
After doing a number of coaching badges, I knew I was missing coaching knowledge specifically in relation to youth development, but it was then that I discovered Albert Puig’s coaching course, https://apfcourses.com and I have never looked back. Finally, I began to understand youth development at the deepest level.
As a father, I also managed to beat the “pay to play” model and brought a GAA volunteer mentality to my local soccer scene. Every team I coached, I did so as a volunteer but on the condition that I did not have to pay money for my boys to play.
In doing so, I brought my two boys (now aged 14 & 16) through youth soccer to being members of Austin FC’s MLS professional soccer academy without ever once paying a single fee to play soccer. I defeated the horrid “pay to play” system, kept my kids in sport where the emphasis was on fun, where they both wanted to play and as a result, they got to the highest level of youth soccer in Texas.
But the journey like all journeys hit a few roadblocks. Yes, the two boys got as far as the MLS academy with Austin FC but that’s when it stopped being fun. That’s when it began being all about winning and much less about development.
When it feels like work, when you are not being given the freedom to play and therefore make mistakes, when you are being constantly criticized, it is no longer fun and that leads to a lack of creativity and ultimately a lack of development. And when kids hit that roadblock; they potentially stop playing. They stop because it is no longer fun.
It was the triangle in red as opposed to the triangle in green.
The Austin FC coaches are professional coaches, and they are all under pressure to keep their jobs, pay their bills, and as youth coaches they are under pressure to succeed. But pressure to succeed in US youth soccer means pressure to win. It’s not about development. If it were, players would be played out of position. The left winger who is left foot dominant would be played on the right so as to improve his right foot. The center back would play in midfield to improve his awareness and passing ability in tight areas. US youth soccer, despite what MLS will say, is still about winning and not about development.
When I look back, I can see that practices were beautifully coordinated. Cones were always in place, balls were all the same, pumped, and ready to go. Pennies were washed. Facilities were phenomenal. Warmups were organized, stretching exercises were coordinated and certainly on the face of it, it all looked ultra-professional. In short, all the necessary boxes were ticked. But there was no imagination, no creativity and certainly no players who played “off the cuff”. Games were simply boring to watch.
My 14 year old who has always played midfield was told by Austin FC that they only wanted to play him in center back. Was that because of his speed, his passing ability and his height? Most likely but he was given an ultimatum; stay with us as a center back but if you want to be a midfielder, find a different club. Where is the youth development there? Decisions had to be made and we went and found a different club so that he could continue playing in midfield. He is 14 and Austin FC did not want to develop him because they simply wanted the finished product.
Stuart Lancaster, renowned English Coach states: “U16s internationals were stopped as only 10% made it to u20s. It creates false hope & impressions on players. You can only identify talent at around 20 years.”
Youth development is not something that happens in a year when you are 14. Youth development takes a minimum of 10 years. In Europe, the clubs take the long-term view and develop their players not to be the best youth players but to be the best adult professional players.
My two boys continue to play at a very high level with the Barcelona Academy in the positions they enjoy instead of being pigeonholed into positions they do not enjoy. They have rediscovered the joy of the game. They play creatively, without being shouted at and they make mistakes but with each mistake, they are improving. They are developing their talents at the ages of 14 & 16, which is what youth development is all about.
They have rediscovered the
“Joy of the Game.”