What Must Change With USA Youth Soccer Culture?

[@szpaceGhoszt201]

As a 42 year old American, I had ZERO interest in soccer growing up. Baseball, football, basketball. In High School I played baseball... then my buddy convinced 4 or 5 of us baseball guys to join soccer. I absolutely fell in love w the game. By my 3rd and final year on the team... I had a feel for spacing and runs (not to mention that soccer turned me into a new, better overall athlete).. however, I had no foot skills. So, it was a frustrating love affair at that point. I grew up in Jersey City, NJ... directly across the Hudson River from NYC. It was literally one of, if not the most diverse city in the nation. (It's now gentrified from working class to a rich man's city)... I've always felt with our international flavor (Latinos, Africans, middle easterners, etx) that we should be a hotbed for soccer. There was no, and still is no casual street soccer. There's one league, in a far corner of the city that's tough to get to. If we could somehow change that, the game can grow, I'm sure of it. We've had pros in all 3 major sports regularly. Our main man right now is Dan Hurley. UConn men's basketball national champion coach. The sport culture is here for sure. I think what you all are saying is spot on. Great talk, gents.

[@Starwind0079]

The observations about US soccer that a) there's no casual play here, and b) US club soccer lives and dies by "testing" kids instead of teaching them are spot-on. We have no casual play here because most cities in the US are designed to need cars to get anywhere - if a 10-year-old wants to kick the ball around with his friends, they and their friends need to convince their parents to take the time to drive them to a park. That's unheard of in the rest of the world: in any other part of the world you could walk a block or two and find a place to play. That's why the US can't produce a world-class team - no one here can control the ball and build a play because no one was taught how to do it. Also: the capitalistic aspect of American culture kills any chance for creativity. US youth soccer clubs live and die by their social media presence: they need to focus on advertising the club and bringing in new customers because it costs so much money to run a club. They can't afford to spend time on teaching technique, refining skills, etc. They are constantly joining tournaments so they have footage to advertise the club on social media. Money becomes the focal point and, apart from leaving out 50-70% of kids and families that can't buy their way in, it produces sub-optimal players because they're always "teaching to the test."

[@Michael-cb5nm]

Yes, you nailed it.

[@szpaceGhoszt201]

Spot on

[@jamind7680]

I agree with most of the assessment of us soccer. Too much emphasis on winning, too little on ball mastery and development, no creativity, lack principles of play and get to 7v7, 9v9, 11v11 too fast. I love the point about coaching and how coaches try to coach soccer like they would American football or basketball (based on running sets/specific plays and drills). With that said basketball has a lot of similar principles to soccer (movement off the ball, making runs/cuts, 1v1,…..). You can apply the principles of a triangle offense in basketball to soccer. I would much rather have a basketball coach try to coach soccer than an American football coach. US lacks quality coaching for soccer. My sons best coach come from Central and South American

[@andymagill1720]

Some coaches see usa clubs as an audition from grassroots to the MLS ⚽️👀

[@albewillbuild]

We”ll be fine. Just keep the kids playing however you can whenever you can while our growing systems evolves. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@kietle7108]

It’s a cultural thing, the same reason that Pulisic, Reyna, and Sullivan parents are former players. US parents and kids do not watch soccer like they do with American sports, so the kids don’t really know the essence of the beautiful game. The game is about control, pass and move. Parents who never play insist the game is pass and move, it’s like saying you don’t need to learn to crawl and stand, just start walking and running.

[@tolaakanni937]

This interview provided great insights into the current state of soccer in the U.S. However, I have a question for all coaches, clubs, academy's and soccer fans: the word 'development' is often overused in the soccer community. What does 'development' really mean in the context of soccer? And what does it look like in real time? How can we measure a child's development and understand what progress should ultimately look like?

[@Michael-cb5nm]

@@tolaakanni937 It starts with identification of the ball mastery skills and game understanding that the club would want to see at given age groups, and a training methodology designed to progress players through these levels. It would shift the definition of success/failure from wins/losses to things like “our U10s are now recognizing 2 v 1 situations much better and exploiting them”…or “our 1 v 1 training seems to be working…we’re seeing a lot more players take on defenders in the final third and creating chances” or “we have an issue with a lot of players not developing their weaker foot” or “our players still seem to not understand when to press and when to cover” or “we struggle to punish teams on transition”… Under this environment, coaches would be watching games mainly to see if the identified skills and game understanding are being absorbed, with a good result in the game being a “nice to have” but not the primary measuring stick. Further, talented players may be asked to play in multiple positions more to challenge them and accelerate their development, something that might compromise results. All of this obviously takes a high level of coaching expertise, and patience. Very difficult to sustain in the US youth model, with parents (whose knowledge of the game tends to be limited) funding the clubs and wanting to see results in the formal games quickly.

[@xlZENlx]

My son started at 8, almost 9. He’s doing ok for his age but I hope he’s doing well enough for the future. He just got on a club team this year at 10.

[@thatn_ggajandro3197]

Does he play soccer a lot outside of a club team? Yes then yeah they’ll do well, if the answer is no, then he just kinda likes it.

[@lukebignell7846]

How many times a week does he train and play matches. As an experienced coach. You need to be training twice per week in organised sessions and playing matches once per week to develop. Anything less than that you won’t develop.

[@wesleyrodgers9022]

If the USA were to have the same programs as USA basketball then we would probably produce some of the best players

[@crewstoic7827]

Played Football in America close to the Bronx long enough ago to see a Retired Pele play a tribute game with Beckenbauer and Carlos Alberto at Giants Stadium in the 1980's. Used to Watch Maradona play For Napoli on Live TV on the Italian Station . Starting from 10 yrs Old what I remember most is playing small sided games where 40 Yr old Fathers, Uncles and Older Brothers from many different countries play with and against 8 yr olds. Many Lessons were imparted to the Young Ballers that go beyond what could be taught with drills in the Academy or Travel system. Still there were always native born Americans that played in these pick up matches that would get progressively better and more competitive till everyone was playing 1 and 2 touch or turning to take on defenders vs passing back as a matter of pride. Maybe not just USA Youth soccer is an issue here. Respect Iwobi but he's not his Uncle Okocha (granted few are).... but a prime difference may be that Okocha played against grown men as a youth and picked up grown men lessons early. Some of the Intangibles of Football go beyond American Athleticism.......... One touch vision Passing at the last moment (the pause) Pulling back to look vs forcing the shot Turning with the ball to take on defender vs passing back Hitting on frame low hard vs kicking into the bleachers Tracking back to defense after losing the ball Never losing the ball Seeking diamonds and triangles Learning to use both feet Trapping a ball hit high like a goal kick or hit at you at 80 miles an hour Coming back 2 goals down Playing in a small restricted area Not getting mad if get beaten.... instead getting even Willing to play any position Getting Roasted by OG's for failing to do any of the above

[@elvan12581]

Guys you need to come to Toronto! Seriously. The grass roots scene is booming here. Plus the Canadian immigrants are different culturally than Americans. We do have the bullshit pay to play system here too but come and check it out pleaseeeeee

[@lukebignell7846]

As the host says playing up is important. My son plays up two age groups from time to time and trains with a team two age groups up. It really helps the talented technical players develop further by overcoming physical challenges.

[@DoktorDomo]

Pulisic is Croatian not Polish or Hungarian 😂

[@topbenssoccer]

Love this podcast. Sean does a great job. Wish the guests were a little more knowledgeable on the USA Soccer environment being they work in it. Check your Pulisic story if you’re going to tell it. MLS has 29 teams, USL Championship 24, and there are over 200 D1 Men’s College Soccer programs. And it’s called SOCCER by the way. Even Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher know that 😆

[@GlobalStreetSoccer]

I just called Pulisic and he told me we got it spot on 😂

[@topbenssoccer]

Call him back because he must’ve heard you wrong when you said his dad was Polish. And Claudio Reyna played over 100 caps for the USA 🇺🇸 national team, not Argentina!!!

[@GlobalStreetSoccer]

@@topbenssoccer the main point is that Pulisic is the player that he is due to street football in UK, moving to Europe in his teens and his Dads influence being European by DNA. Pulisic building street football pitches in his home town to give kids the opportunity to play freely without a coach says it all. We apologize for the elements of the story that are beside the point. Good spot though! Gotcha moment 😂❤️⚽️

[@topbenssoccer]

@@GlobalStreetSoccer you’re spot on with needing more unstructured free play at the younger age groups. The initiative is great to get kids playing in the “street”. A lot of people will watch or listen to this, and you’re obviously doing good things, so I think it’s important the little facts line up so that your message isn’t diluted or discarded. Oh and George Weah was most definitely World Footballer of the Year! 🙌 no need to think about that one :)

[@imawaylonfan1]

The best athletes play football, baseball and basketball. Soccer is not #1 here.

[@DG-kampfer422]

the problem with US soccer comes down to their own arrogance, the wrong standard of achievement for grass root and club soccer and the fact that soccer here excludes huge sections of the population ( i'll explain this later). First US soccer is too arrogant for it's own good... we dont want to change our grassroot system or even college system to match the rest of the world and we will develop players late because they aren't introduced to actual competitive football until they get out of college or skip it and go outside the US. Our grassroot system has always catered to get people into college which shouldn't be our goal for players, they should be pushing to get players at age 12-14yrs pushing to get into europe or academies for soccer clubs. We're starting to see it but not as a whole only a small select numbers. and to keep things brief... US Soccer will never be good cause it so money involved at the grassroot level that we don't find the next ronaldo, messi, ronaldinho... I mean when you listen to a lot of players you'll see that football was a means to get out of something/somewhere.... in America soccer is often played by the middle class or people with money so they can get into these clubs to get looked at. You hear stories about CR7 growing up poor and football was a way out for him and his family and he dedicated himself to it and look where it got him. We have more people in some states than the whole of portugal and we can't find/develop/produce an athlete like him? Somehow we produce top basketball and american football players....We don't have a scouting structure or a academy system that finds these kids playing pickup on the streets or at some random field. Soccer almost seems like its for the privileged and is moneygated unlike some other sports... we only have scouts at like ODP, or these expensive soccer camps or places where you only get there if you got money. I bet with the size of the US, i'd say about 40 states if they took the money and budgeted a system to act as an academy for the state and it was based off talent and not necessarily money.... these states could develop their own top professional football team with supporting academies and our national team would be #1 in the world, there's honestly so much more wrong with US soccer but those are the ones that come to mind

[@combatsportsmedia5686]

USA Soccer Culture - pay to play. This guy when on a English tangent when the answer to the first question was 3 words. Pay to Play is also the problem

[@lukebignell7846]

There are many other problems other than pay to play. You have to pay to play in every other country too even England, Spain and Germany. Although i agree its more expensive in the USA Main problem with the USA is the coaching and the kids doing too many other sports…so they aren’t training enough and therefore the standard is too low to develop good players

[@combatsportsmedia5686]

@@lukebignell7846, the most important thing we can do to fix the system is have regional and local academies that are accessible to all kids in the area. Also, completely separate it from academics. Being a scholar and athlete are two totally different things...(when we accessible academies locally and regionally the kids will naturally play year around and choose it as main sport sooner in life)

[@johnyoung823]

People saying pay to play is the problem haven’t thought it through… every other youth sport in America is pay to play… and many are more expensive (by a lot) than soccer… so how can pay to play be a problem unique to US youth soccer? It’s also pay to play everywhere else in the world… when people point to pro youth academies in Europe as “see! It’s free!” Well we have that in the US too… the truth is we need 300 MLS youth academies that are free because US is so damn big… we only have 30… and we can’t get to 300 because majority of Americans are too busy watching NFL NBA MLB EPL..

[@Michael-cb5nm]

There’s no “system”. Up to age 12, it should be mainly about ball mastery and understanding the fundamentals of space and positioning. But pay to play encourages lots of formal games on large fields with many players, basically turning youth soccer into glorified kickball. Secondly, there is little need to worry about getting kids to pick soccer over American football. The physical attributes of the athletes diverge too much. Tell me, which American football position would Phil Foden, Messi, Siva, or a host of other world class soccer players have played if they grew up in the States? Answer…they would have played soccer because they would have been too small for American football. And they wouldn’t have become world class in our system. So stop this nonsense about “the better athletes in the US don’t play soccer”. US soccer doesn’t have an athlete problem, we don’t lose games because we’re too small or slow. We lose games because we lack elite skill and decision making ability.

[@johnyoung823]

It’s pay to play for every other sport… and also for soccer overseas…. Minus pro academies which we also have in the US…

[@Michael-cb5nm]

@@johnyoung823 Not to the extent it is in the US. The academy system, whereby developmental programs are funded by senior professional clubs at little or no cost to prospective players, is much more developed outside of the US. How else do you think all these talented kids with little means get spotted in these countries? And once in these academies, they are developed by professional coaches with age group expertise whose goal is long term development for the player. Further, there is the solidarity payment system which can result in the youth club receiving payments if one of their players is eventually signed for a large transfer fee. This further incentivizes a development approach across the board. In contrast, the US youth soccer economic model is to have clubs unconnected to any senior pro team. Their main source of revenue is fees from parents. There is little to no solidarity payment system. Long term development is hard in this environment as parents generally judge the quality of a club based on its win record, and how many tournaments are entered. It is this completely different incentive structure and economic model, one that stifles development, that is the rule rather than the exception in American youth soccer.

[@stupitt9411]

I don’t think there is a right answer, some kids learn better doing drill work and learning in a structured environment and some kids thrive in free play with very little rules. I feel the academies don’t adapt to the players they have, one way doesn’t fit all!

[@danielwestlund9208]

Loved the podcast. US soccer has coaches training that mimics the best countries soccer programs, but will take years for the coaches to get certified and implement the teachings. I think we will get there. Counter argument, England has never won a major tournament, and I just heard recently that this Brazil team is the worst in generations. So I take everything with a grain of salt.

[@leighcotterell2302]

England won 1966 World Cup right ?

[@fedreccinnodante4799]

Literally won the 66 World Cup!

[@danielwestlund9208]

Are these sarcastic responses? Nothing matters in sports from 58 years ago. Did England have the best youth development then?