Player Development vs Super Team Chasing?

Finally I found a coach that knows what he’s talking about and that agrees with my logic regarding player development and team development. A coach that understands that possession soccer and winning are both important. A coach that is getting the desired results and is producing elite level professional athletes that are playing for their respective national teams. The problem with American culture is that everyone tries to sugar coat things and keeps on sweeping their weaknesses under the rug. Saying we have culture problems and throw the problem to the misunderstood winning at all costs vs development phenomena as the root of of non global success in developing elite players.

Having only see the video I see a team with great passing abilities....the training is probably the good ol rondos rondos rondos, and when you are tired of that, more rondos. That training is very effective for developing a team's passing ability very quickly (just ask my son's AYSO United team last year). But there are also a lot of weaknesses in the game: 1) most of the offense goes through the no. 10 who is a very good finisher...the others even in the highlights from the video seem to struggle to finish off the attack even missing a cross right into the box which for a team of this caliber should be easy...many of them are relying on their speed when they don't pass and don't seem to have developed the ball control as much as their passing, 2) it's not true tiki taka...even deep into the goal box the backwards passing is not going through the goalkeeper which causes the defense to get all congested in there and why the team has a hard time getting it out the back sometimes....using the goalkeeper allows you to spread the wings and shouldn't be an issue for a team of this caliber, 3) their defensive skills aren't great....lots of body checking but also lots of diving in and a weakness in defensive formation, 4) we don't see much from the keeper but the one save is done improperly, with the bended knee technique, which at this age shouldn't be happening.
 
So wait. You told us on the other thread that you had put her in AYSO this year so that you could double up her training and that you could get her to exercise her leadership skills. Did that not go very well? Did you let her drop the team after making the commitment? How's the AYSO season going and how's your coaching going? It really does sound that you are just unhappy the way your org runs things and you should start looking for a new org that's more in line with your values.

In the 1970s few kids played club ball....everyone was in pretty much in AYSO rec, from the future pro to the handicapped kids. You have a point. That's why AYSO didn't work...the handicapped kid got frustrated because no one would pass to him and the future pro because no one developed him or her. Besides the knowledge gap (daddy coaches didn't know how to coach soccer), getting appropriate play time with like skilled players was why people left AYSO and club ball exploded. My own son (not a future pro) asked to leave AYSO because when he was preparing for the Extras tryouts around age 8, he couldn't get any of his teammates to train with him (they had other sports, and one parent told us they were too busy with their Disneyland annual pass).

But we don't have a tiered rec system like the UK (where only the best of the best play academy, and everyone else plays rec)...so the sorting is imperfect....you have silver players that shouldn't be playing at gold and you have silver players that are playing down at bronze....our bracket system is broken too because coaches (including teams that shouldn't be promoted) are chasing the promotions so they can recruit better players and "upgrade". Coaches need to fill rosters and their read of players isn't perfect, so the sorting system isn't going to perfect...jeez we can't even get the brackets right....in an ideal world there shouldn't be any teams outside of the top DA teams that run away with the bracket, or that lose every game.

Very few people are advocating going back to the AYSO everyone play together model. You're just doing the classic strawman there and knocking it down. Where the disagreement is circles around how important winning is (and the resulting training/cuts/recruiting/tactics that you need to do to get there), and at what age should it happen. As people have told you, the consensus is not at 8 years old.

Yes it did not work out for her she didn't like it. That was my mistake for putting her in a rec team. The idea was to get extra practice and create some leadership skills but it back fired. Not saying that everything I'm doing is working but so far so good with the majority of stuff
 
The coach you quote has lost his job, and currently license suspended from a history of bullying among other things. He's also yet to do it with more than this one super-talented group. If he does it with a new group, it'll mean a lot more.

Good point. We'll see what he does. Definitely like his blog and thoughts minus the bullying of course. Maybe he needs to tone it down a bit but nothing wrong with a little tough love
 
Having only see the video I see a team with great passing abilities....the training is probably the good ol rondos rondos rondos, and when you are tired of that, more rondos. That training is very effective for developing a team's passing ability very quickly (just ask my son's AYSO United team last year). But there are also a lot of weaknesses in the game: 1) most of the offense goes through the no. 10 who is a very good finisher...the others even in the highlights from the video seem to struggle to finish off the attack even missing a cross right into the box which for a team of this caliber should be easy...many of them are relying on their speed when they don't pass and don't seem to have developed the ball control as much as their passing, 2) it's not true tiki taka...even deep into the goal box the backwards passing is not going through the goalkeeper which causes the defense to get all congested in there and why the team has a hard time getting it out the back sometimes....using the goalkeeper allows you to spread the wings and shouldn't be an issue for a team of this caliber, 3) their defensive skills aren't great....lots of body checking but also lots of diving in and a weakness in defensive formation, 4) we don't see much from the keeper but the one save is done improperly, with the bended knee technique, which at this age shouldn't be happening.

For a u11 team...I haven't seen much better.
 
For a u11 team...I haven't seen much better.

That's again how you measure it...for passing and for body checking? agree...for winning? o.k. but that's not very important at that age....for ball control, defensive skills, defensive tactics, backpass tactics and goalkeeping? I've seen plenty (including a few bronze teams, and particularly if you take 10 out of the equation) that actually do some of that better, including some teams from your own club (with the caveat that this is just one short video).
 
Yes it did not work out for her she didn't like it. That was my mistake for putting her in a rec team. The idea was to get extra practice and create some leadership skills but it back fired. Not saying that everything I'm doing is working but so far so good with the majority of stuff

Hope you didn't let her drop. That completely disbalances the team given the AYSO ranking system (or did she draw a 6 because she didn't play the previous year?) How is the team doing without her on it, or did you drop out as a coach too?

At least you can admit a mistake....growth....if you are wrong about that ask yourself, though, am I wrong about other things too?....particularly given the limited time horizon.
 
Hope you didn't let her drop. That completely disbalances the team given the AYSO ranking system (or did she draw a 6 because she didn't play the previous year?) How is the team doing without her on it, or did you drop out as a coach too?

She has not played ayso in 3 years. Everything is fine. Losing games, not worried about it. Kids playing, learning and trying is the important thing. Did not want to force her to stay just to win games. I believe I did the right thing.
 
I used to balance AYSO teams. If your kid can lead a top team roster, please don’t send him/her to AYSO. It takes the game away from all of their teammates. The other kids rarely touch the ball. When they do touch it, they feel useless.

Why? AYSO balances teams. One weak player can’t balance a superstar. To balance a superstar, you have to gut the whole team. When you’re done, almost every single player on the team is below average for the league. And they all know it, because they have a superstar next to them every practice and every game.
 
The coach you quote has lost his job, and currently license suspended from a history of bullying among other things. He's also yet to do it with more than this one super-talented group. If he does it with a new group, it'll mean a lot more.
And I am sure this is why Luis likes him...just like him LOL
 
She has not played ayso in 3 years. Everything is fine. Losing games, not worried about it. Kids playing, learning and trying is the important thing. Did not want to force her to stay just to win games. I believe I did the right thing.
@Grace T. I am so confused like you. He said she was signed up for AYSO for leadership skills LOL. Anything you read from this guy you cannot believe except for his original rants about an 8 year old being a liability to HIS team.
 
Hope you didn't let her drop. That completely disbalances the team given the AYSO ranking system (or did she draw a 6 because she didn't play the previous year?) How is the team doing without her on it, or did you drop out as a coach too?

At least you can admit a mistake....growth....if you are wrong about that ask yourself, though, am I wrong about other things too?....particularly given the limited time horizon.
He doesn’t care about the team, only himself.
 
I used to balance AYSO teams. If your kid can lead a top team roster, please don’t send him/her to AYSO. It takes the game away from all of their teammates. The other kids rarely touch the ball. When they do touch it, they feel useless.

Why? AYSO balances teams. One weak player can’t balance a superstar. To balance a superstar, you have to gut the whole team. When you’re done, almost every single player on the team is below average for the league. And they all know it, because they have a superstar next to them every practice and every game.

Great question and I definitely agree with you. The answer to this question however involves a little story of things that have happened within the last 14 months and in the successions of things which has led to the direction in the way she has developed as a player. I’ll get back to it a little later when I have more time to write. However there is a rationale for why I brought her back to AYSO.
 
Am I the only one following this thread to see Fact rate all of Luis Andres posts as "dumb"?

Nothing against either poster but that's some funny ish! Lol.
 
The coach you quote has lost his job, and currently license suspended from a history of bullying among other things. He's also yet to do it with more than this one super-talented group. If he does it with a new group, it'll mean a lot more.

Seems like he got fired for a conflict of interest. For having two top players go to Europe instead of staying local. I did not find anything about bullying. Can you post the link to that article that justifies your claim.?
 
The story goes back to Surf cup 2018, It was the team’s first major tournament and My DD had just come out of a 2 month summer camp where she got to practice and play lots of soccer. At that time I was the only one on the team taking their child to extra training outside of practice. That tournament she pretty much carried the team and proved herself as the leading scorer and commanded the middle very well. It was nice to see her dribble through players and use her faints and quickness to get through the defense and score. She had sold the coach through her merits on the field that she would be playing the central positions (cm/cb) on the team going forward.

Before that the team was struggling a bit because no one was able to play the cb position and allow the team to play competitively against the top teams. But we had to go back to the Eagles tournament to see how it unfolded. I had told coach to give her a shot in the middle as she was playing the left back position when she first joined the team. After the first 5 min of the game the current center back gave up goal and he decided to try her at the cb position and for the rest of the half the Eagles were not able to get through her defense. So we held them to 1-0 for the rest of the half. Second half he decides to go back to a different line up, not sure why but maybe he wanted try other things, but sure enough we gave up 4 more goals and lost 5-0 in the finals.

After Surf season started and I started to see a change in her game. She no longer was the leading scorer but her game turned to passing and defending. That season she was probably the third leading scorer next to the 2 girls that became the forwards for the team. Sure enough the 2 forwards were a very talented 2011 playing up a natural left foot striker and Olivia Moultrie’s little sister on the right. Both amazing little players.

After many talks with Olivia’s Father he had pulled me to the side one day and said. Your daughter is the best player on this team. She has some special abilities and he pointed them out to me. Things like speed, change of speed, timing to tackles, great passing and vision for the field. He kind of opened up my eyes. After we played Slammers at State cup and saw how she commanded the back field I knew there was something special about her ability to win balls, but I wanted to develop her as a forward because she was also the most technical and fastest dribbler. She’s young and can be molded into any type of player. In essence, I was trying to gear her development to play like Olivia Moultrie. I wanted her to be selfish with the ball, dribble through players and play like Messi.

I started taking her to striking classes and showed her lots of clips on Messi and how he would go through defenders and score. I also showed her clips of Olivia playing at her age. Sure enough non of it worked she still wouldn’t try to dribble through players. She told me she prefers to pass and create assists. She didn’t want to play like Olivia or Messi. I started to notice that her character to play the game was just very unselfish. I wanted her to be more selfish and be a ball hog to some degree cause I know she has the ability and quickness to do it. She’s done it before why can’t she continue to do so?

Talking to my friend who’s coached AYSO he suggested that I sign her up to practice playing like Messi. He said have her score a few goals, let her get comfortable and have her try all the new tricks she was learning at training. I thought I would give it a try but knew that it would be unfair to the rest of the girls. The idea was to have her do that for some small amount of time per half, have her score a few goals and then move her to a passing role in a 3-1-2 format. So she can teach the little girls how to play a passing game and develop some leader ship skills in the process by talking and instructing them. Sounded great in theory but it backfired because once she made the first pass she would never get the ball back and got bored of watching them scramble and told me she did not want to play with them anymore. The rest of the girls were playing the typical AYSO game were they bunch up and some ball hog. Nothing wrong with that. Just shows the different characters of these little players. It would be wrong for me to keep her around just to win games and give her and the rest of the little girls the wrong soccer experience.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and watching film and I started to notice that as young as she is, her game or way of playing is pretty naturally defined as it is or fair to say it’s starting to show how she may play when she is older. She thrives in defending, passing and counter attacks. Her style is of elegance and not aggression or selfish ball hogging. She’s smooth and calm and not a dirty player. Her game is classy.

The only time I see her dribble through players and take the ball is when she steals the ball and creates a counter attack. Maybe there is such a thing as a young kid’s game being naturally defined early on and just let her naturally develop into the player that she wants to be based on the attributes that make her shine and stand out. Not sure still debating it but I will just let her be. I shouldn’t force anything on her or try to turn her into a different player in the process. I have decided to stop trying to turn her into a forward and scorer. It’s just not her game. But after reviewing all the film I came to the realization that the ways she plays reminds me a lot of an old player that you guys have probably never heard of by the name of Elias Figueroa. I had seen some clips of him playing a while back and couldn’t help but notice the similarities to my DD’s game. He played between 1966-1980.

Bio: Figueroa was noted for his elegant style of play, his composure in the centre of defense and his ability to cut out opposition attacks and immediately launch counterattacks from the back with his passing. He was also praised throughout his career for being a gentleman on and off the pitch. This is how I would describe her game as well and she is such a gentle lady on and off the field. Very respectful and never complains. She just does what the coach wants her to do and never plays dirty.


"(Elias) Figueroa is the best Chilean player of all time, and probably the finest central defender in the history of football in the Americas." - Pele

“I’m the European Figueroa.” - Franz Beckenbauer

“If you asked me to compare 'Don Elias' to someone, I couldn’t give you an answer." - Rubens Minelli

I read his bio in Wikipedia and was stunned to see that the way he is described is the same way I would describe my DD’s game. Her natural attributes are very similar to Figueroa’s. I researched his highlights and to my surprise his movements and plays have striking similarities to the way my DD plays. I made a 15 second clip showing a side by side comparison and the similarities of some of his moves. So I guess for now I’m just gonna let her be and let her develop into the type of player that she is destined for.
 
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The story goes back to Surf cup 2018, It was the team’s first major tournament and My DD had just come out of a 2 month summer camp where she got to practice and play lots of soccer. At that time I was the only one on the team taking their child to extra training outside of practice. That tournament she pretty much carried the team and proved herself as the leading scorer and commanded the middle very well. It was nice to see her dribble through players and use her faints and quickness to get through the defense and score. She had sold the coach through her merits on the field that she would be playing the central positions (cm/cb) on the team going forward.

Before that the team was struggling a bit because no one was able to play the cb position and allow the team to play competitively against the top teams. But we had to go back to the Eagles tournament to see how it unfolded. I had told coach to give her a shot in the middle as she was playing the left back position when she first joined the team. After the first 5 min of the game the current center back gave up goal and he decided to try her at the cb position and for the rest of the half the Eagles were not able to get through her defense. So we held them to 1-0 for the rest of the half. Second half he decides to go back to a different line up, not sure why but maybe he wanted try other things, but sure enough we gave up 4 more goals and lost 5-0 in the finals.

After Surf season started and I started to see a change in her game. She no longer was the leading scorer but her game turned to passing and defending. That season she was probably the third leading scorer next to the 2 girls that became the forwards for the team. Sure enough the 2 forwards were a very talented 2011 playing up a natural left foot striker and Olivia Moultrie’s little sister on the right. Both amazing little players.

After many talks with Olivia’s Father he had pulled me to the side one day and said. Your daughter is the best player on this team. She has some special abilities and he pointed them out to me. Things like speed, change of speed, timing to tackles, great passing and vision for the field. He kind of opened up my eyes. After we played Slammers at State cup and saw how she commanded the back field I knew there was something special about her ability to win balls, but I wanted to develop her as a forward because she was also the most technical and fastest dribbler. She’s young and can be molded into any type of player. In essence, I was trying to gear her development to play like Olivia Moultrie. I wanted her to be selfish with the ball, dribble through players and play like Messi.

I started taking her to striking classes and showed her lots of clips on Messi and how he would go through defenders and score. I also showed her clips of Olivia playing at her age. Sure enough non of it worked she still wouldn’t try to dribble through players. She told me she prefers to pass and create assists. She didn’t want to play like Olivia or Messi. I started to notice that her character to play the game was just very unselfish. I wanted her to be more selfish and be a ball hog to some degree cause I know she has the ability and quickness to do it. She’s done it before why can’t she continue to do so?

Talking to my friend who’s coached AYSO he suggested that I sign her up to practice playing like Messi. He said have her score a few goals, let her get comfortable and have her try all the new tricks she was learning at training. I thought I would give it a try but knew that it would be unfair to the rest of the girls. The idea was to have her do that for some small amount of time per half, have her score a few goals and then move her to a passing role in a 3-1-2 format. So she can teach the little girls how to play a passing game and develop some leader ship skills in the process by talking and instructing them. Sounded great in theory but it backfired because once she made the first pass she would never get the ball back and got bored of watching them scramble and told me she did not want to play with them anymore. The rest of the girls were playing the typical AYSO game were they bunch up and some ball hog. Nothing wrong with that. Just shows the different characters of these little players. It would be wrong for me to keep her around just to win games and give her and the rest of the little girls the wrong soccer experience.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and watching film and I started to notice that as young as she is, her game or way of playing is pretty naturally defined as it is or fair to say it’s starting to show how she may play when she is older. She thrives in defending, passing and counter attacks. Her style is of elegance and not aggression or selfish ball hogging. She’s smooth and calm and not a dirty player. Her game is classy.

The only time I see her dribble through players and take the ball is when she steals the ball and creates a counter attack. Maybe there is such a thing as a young kid’s game being naturally defined early on and just let her naturally develop into the player that she wants to be based on the attributes that make her shine and stand out. Not sure still debating it but I will just let her be. I shouldn’t force anything on her or try to turn her into a different player in the process. I have decided to stop trying to turn her into a forward and scorer. It’s just not her game. But after reviewing all the film I came to the realization that the ways she plays reminds me a lot of an old player that you guys have probably never heard of by the name of Elias Figueroa. I had seen some clips of him playing a while back and couldn’t help but notice the similarities to my DD’s game. He played between 1966-1980.

Bio: Figueroa was noted for his elegant style of play, his composure in the centre of defense and his ability to cut out opposition attacks and immediately launch counterattacks from the back with his passing. He was also praised throughout his career for being a gentleman on and off the pitch. This is how I would describe her game as well and she is such a gentle lady on and off the field. Very respectful and never complains. She just does what the coach wants her to do and never plays dirty.


"(Elias) Figueroa is the best Chilean player of all time, and probably the finest central defender in the history of football in the Americas." - Pele

“I’m the European Figueroa.” - Franz Beckenbauer

“If you asked me to compare 'Don Elias' to someone, I couldn’t give you an answer." - Rubens Minelli

I read his bio in Wikipedia and was stunned to see that the way he is described is the same way I would describe my DD’s game. Her natural attributes are very similar to Figueroa’s. I researched his highlights and to my surprise his movements and plays have striking similarities to the way my DD plays. I made a 15 second clip showing a side by side comparison and the similarities of some of his moves. So I guess for now I’m just gonna let her be and let her develop into the type of player that she is destined for.
I am speechless. Who has time and or cares to read this dribble. More importantly why does he think anyone gives a damn. We should look into Luis and EJ getting a group rate on ECT.
 
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I am speechless. Who has time and or cares to read this dribble. More importantly why does he think anyone gives a damn. We should look into Luis and EJ getting a group rate on ECT.

Lol and you’re the one that came to read it and reply on it. That’s the story on why I put her in AYSO. And the direction path for her future development. Don’t care to read it. Just move on. Simple as that.
 
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