His route to Virginia was varied. Swanson started as a youth coach, with U-13 and U-16 boys. He’s coached “all ages, sizes, abilities and genders” – and enjoyed it all. Every team has contributed to his own coaching education. And, he says, “I’m still learning and growing.”
As for the future of U.S. women’s soccer, Swanson believes “the sky’s the limit. We have amazing people in this country. We just need to keep the standards high, at every level.”
Photos courtesy of UVA Athletics
7 comments about "Steve Swanson, coach of world champions, has a special fondness for the college game".
frank schoon, October 28, 2021 at 9:37 a.m.
As a coach ,Steve is also a good 'politician'. But a lot of things he states are simple generalities than anyone can agree with and some other things he states I questioned.
I cringe whenever I hear the Terminology, 'skillset' which I hear of read about so often is another way of not getting into real specifics, but still sounding very knowledgeable and it can be easily taught... The problem is what Steve enumerates is not really taught. Have you watch a women's college game....good lord, it's awful, skillwise and/or thinking wise....It's simply not good soccer...
In college, he states it's too late to learn to strike a long ball. I beg to differ ,of all the techniques that one can learn at a late age this one is the easiest to learn and furthermore it is better to learn kick long balls when you're older in the late teens for then the body is more coordinated. Now if he had stated learning to play wing, which all the skills, and other assets,nuances that comes with the position it then I would say has a point. But I have taught a specific move to a wing player that he can use.
The Cruyff once stated that coaches today would feint if a wing came up to him and ask to teach him several wing moves. Another example, running fast towards an uncoming ball and able to control upon meeting it, that can be learned by just practicing and that doesn't take long. But even at the National level , you never even see a women player of the WNT run at ball ,they just stand there and pass to the feet....Or trapping a ball dead on the feet or underneath the shoes from a goalie's high kick...these things can all be learned in practice. There a lot of skills than can be learned to be more effective as a player at an older age that just are not taught at college level.
To me the most important 'skillset'
, is ATTACKING ONE ON ONE, PERIOD. That is really the initial movement with the ball you learn playing pickup...That goes for any sport, i.e. basketball...
To beat your opponent is the most satisfying and most rewarding of all aspects of soccer in the beginning stages of one's development, and it builds your self-esteem as a player....There is a PSYCHOLOGY that coaches don't understand which is so important to the player. In my days in street soccer the one that gets the respect from other players is the best one on one player. That is how the hierarchy is formed among the players. Players automatically look up to you because you can beat the competition, one on one.
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frank schoon, October 28, 2021 at 10:01 a.m.
PSYCHOLOGY that goes with beating a player ONE ON ONE,that particular aspect of the game is missing in today's players which is due in great part to coaches getting involved in youth soccer. Pickup soccer when I played or even today is free from restrictions (COACHING). There were no coaches, telling you to be 'efficient', saying 'you dribble too much', 'one-touch it', 'switch the field', 'pass it', along with the other organizational and team aspects which should be taught but at a much later age like 15 or so.
This PSYCHOLOGY is what made the youth player who was good one on one, a cocky, confident player. Just look at Zlatan, Mr. Pickup himself, his character, the way carries himself, all of which he nurtured and gotten from playing pickup soccer, and he didn't get into organized ball until around 17...I miss that in today's players for they don't have that PSYCHOLOGY. In my days most of the good youth players had that psychologically of , 'you think you're better than me'. At Ajax, the youth that tried out were all cocky youth players because they represented the best players of the various neighborhoods in Amsterdam. How you a handle ball against competition marks you as 'the man'.
The other aspect of this PSYCHOLOGY was that you try to stay on top of the competition because of the respect you earn from your peers. By being confident and cocky with the ball, it is so much easier to learn other aspects, technically and tactically as you get older....After you gained great skills you BRANCH OUT into those other areas.
When I look at the MNT, I don't recognize any cockiness, confidence from these players, instead I see a lot of strange hairdo's, tattoos and other forms pseudo machoisms but as soon as one has a ball on their foot and a opponents show up he gets the shakes. The players are formed and programmed all these years by coaches that they end up lacking a strong individuality with the ball..
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frank schoon, October 28, 2021 at 10:23 a.m.
Steve had mentioned that women soccer has improved over the past 25-30 years....to me i, yes, horizontally, there are more women players and therefore more possible talent to choose from but TECHNICALLY, no. I think the best women players are also the more athletic types with some talent...If you look at Mia Hamm and others of that generation, than I don't see the improvement in women soccer ,individually, considering all the improvements and benefits in coaching,etc...The quality of the game has stayed at one level..
"Quicker skills and quicker decision-making"....to me are just Mantras employed by coaches to sound knowledgeable for I don't see that in women soccer, and how do you go about doing this....I think we will always have handicapped as American players until 'pickup' soccer becomes part of all culture. You can't expected our player to better by just going to training at a club and be lead by by programmed coaches....Like in basketball the good ,better player come out of playing pickup all the time for that is where you hone and learn the inner aspect that can't acquired from just the coaching side
"As a country we've been very focused on the ball". TOTALLY DISAGREE. If we were focused on the ball we would have GREAT INDIVIDUALISTS. Brazil is country that is focused on the ball, for that is the first step how youth developed and they have great players on the ball..WE DON'T HAVE THAT....I wish we were focused on the ball than we could say, "yeah, our NT doesn't win because we have such great individualists with the ball and all we need now is a coach that put them together as a team". BUT WE DON'T HAVE THAT, PERIOD. If anything that is where our training thinking should be directed to put a lot of focus on the ball then later when we can talk about 'off the ball'.
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Mike Lynch, October 28, 2021 at 10:58 a.m.
Dan, Great article highlighting Steve Swanson's long and consistently successful career not only getting results but also in developing players and people. His record is indisputible and his opinions are credible. Are there lots of aspects to our current state of player and team development, including college age female players here in the US that could be better, need fine tuning? Absolutely, but college soccer is not a barrier to these possible solutions. At it's best as one of several different player development pathways, it continues to attract and develop many of the best players in the world as evidenced in past World Cups and Olympic competitions including the lastest ones, and at it's worst as a player development pathway, still provides young people an opportunity to pursue BOTH education AND athletics, a pathway not possible elsewhere ... and if one that is so bad, why are so many players from abroad clammering to be a part of our college soccer experience here?
