Exploring American Youth Soccer

Welcome to the first blog post for this author's newest foray into the soccer world, Exploring American Youth Soccer! I am glad that you have found your way here (although, to be fair, I have probably invited most of you here!)!!

I will be honest with you: this first post has been intimidating me for some time. I have been thinking that about doing something like this for a while; I have been thinking about reaching out to the community of people who are interested in the current state of American youth soccer, who see the drastic need for change in our game as we evolve into a real and meaningful contributor to the world soccer community, and in having a dialogue with these people about exactly how we can effect this evolution, but I haven't really known how to start our conversation. It was stage fright, I guess. In the end, I decided that I just needed to have some guts, and that the best way to start this conversation was to start it just like any other conversation, with introductions: First of myself, then of the topic, and finally how I plan to address this whole thing.

I want to start with a bit of my background. I am 29 years old, I played competitive soccer throughout my youth, and I played four years of college soccer at an NCAA Division III institution, earning a bachelor's degree in 2003 and a master's degree in 2005. Since then, I have been coaching as a full-time profession on the collegiate and youth levels (3 years as a head coach at two different DIII institutions, and 3 years as a DIII assistant at two different institutions), I have earned an "A" license from US Soccer in 2008, a Premier Diploma from the NSCAA in 2007, and a National Youth License from US Youth Soccer in 2003. In addition to my responsibilities at my University, I also currently work for the North Texas Olympic Development Program as an age group head coach, for the North Texas Coaching Education Staff, the State teaching staff for the NSCAA, I work as an assistant coach at a local high school, and I work with players between the ages of 7 and 12 at my local soccer club. So, even though I have not been in soccer "forever," and I am still a very young coach in the large scheme of things, I still think that I am well qualified and that I have a demonstrated ability to be successful as a coach. I am, however, not professing to be an expert in sports science, in education, in youth development or youth growth, in youth soccer, in American soccer, in coaching, or in the game itself, and this blog is not meant to come across as pronouncements of an expert in any of these fields. Rather, I feel that, like all good coaches, I am starting this conversation so that I can better understand this game and how to impact it, so that I can better myself as a coach, as a professional, as an educator, and as a student of the game, and I hope that it is read and accepted in that spirit.

Now to our topic: Over the course of the past 9 months or so I have somewhat accidentally fascinated with the theory, science, and coaching of players in the U6 - U12 or U14 age groups. Admittedly, I was preparing myself for some new business opportunities, and I wanted to make sure that I was thinking, saying, and presenting "the right things" so I did a lot of reading, writing, and research on the subject from multiple and various sources. During this process I have discovered a hitherto un-noticed passion for this kind of coaching, for devoting one's time, energies, thought and abilities to coaching players in these age groups. Because of my coaching background, and because of my coaching style, this new passion has surprised a lot of the people around me, myself included, but there is something very appealing about working with these age groups. Of course, there are a lot of amazing and engaging factors associated with coaching these players but, for me, I have found that the reason that I am so interested in it, the reason that I am so drawn to it, is that I think that these are the age groups where coaches can make the most difference in players' lives; it is during this period, this "golden age," as some have called it, when we can make the single biggest and most purposeful impact on individuals, on communities, and on generations because we can be the reason that they either fall in love with the game, that they fall out of love with the game, or that they never find the game: We have the opportunity to develop whole generations of "life long fans" and believers if we work to develop strong soccer athletes in the right way. For me, then, working with these groups offers me the chance to impact, to contribute, and to give back to the game itself, to make the game better for the long term in our country, and I am really excited about it!

This brings us to our road map, to how I am going to present my thoughts and feelings as I try to explore American youth soccer. Essentially, I am going to try to write as often as I can, I am going to try to post and link to the most interesting and engaging things that I am able to find that contribute to our discussions, I am going to try to always be open, honest, and conversational throughout this whole process, and I would really like for this blog to be about what "we" think, not just about what I think. So, please, if you are reading this and you are interested in and excited about what we are talking about, please feel free to join in and to let me know your thoughts, feelings, and experiences! I think that we have a good opportunity to build a real sense of community here, as well as to share thoughts and resources with each other, and I hope that we can all explore this thing together!