Academy is the way forward

(Published in the Evening News & The Tribune, September 18, 2007)

Travel soccer by its nature is results driven. As a result, player improvement can - and does - suffer.

When you see youngsters who can't string a couple of simple passes together, don't look comfortable on the ball, or are blasting said ball into the bushes and hitting the wings of birds when it should be nestling nicely in the back of the net, you wonder why this has come to be.

A document called "Best Practices for Coaching Soccer" claims to know exactly why. Released by the United States Soccer Federation, it says that to create not only a better environment for our players but also our coaches, parents and referees, the transition from having U9 travel teams to what it calls U9 "academies" must be achieved.

Travel teams may feature the cream of the crop in a particular area, but that cream is not as creamy as it should be. Why? Because skills are sacrificed as mistakes and experimentation on the field are not tolerated.

And it's all thanks to pressure: Pressure on coaches to get results. Playing in the top tournaments demands it and not playing in them means your "cream" disappears as parents look elsewhere in their quest to see their budding Ronaldhinos and Gerrards play with a "successful" team.

For example, a coach might throw in the bigger, more physical players to execute his gameplan if said gameplan depends on the long ball or a more direct route. You might see an improvement in results, but you'll also begin to see less building out of the back, less ball possession and less skill and flair. And some of those with the ability to inject said skill and flair will be on the sidelines, craning their little necks as they follow the ball which travels from cloud to cloud gathering raindrops.

Concern has prompted Indiana and a number of states to introduce the academy approach to children's soccer coaching. It's probably not the be all and end all, but hopefully its very introduction will lead to the alleviation of such pressure and see a rise in skill levels amongst young players.

Indiana Youth Soccer's U9 academy claims to be different from the regular travel format that has been offered in the past for this age group. The impetus for this change, say coaches, is mainly to provide a fun and more positive playing environment as the children make the transition to their first years of the travel soccer experience. Development over results, in other words.

There are no A, B, and C teams as players stay in pools and can be moved back and forth, according to their progress development throughout the seasonal year - a "no-cut" policy is also recommended.

Each club's academy plays four non-results-oriented "play dates" - with two games each date - against other club academies over the fall, organized by the various Indiana Youth Soccer travel leagues. Club academy directors split up their players into groups, playing 6v6 in games of two 25 minute halves. Academies can share players - who must play at least half of every match - if necessary. No scores are kept and there are no official league standings.

Both of the area's clubs - Southern Indiana United and Net-Surfers - are taking on the idea.
At Southern Indiana United, the U9 academy is overseen by the club's director of development and New Albany High School coach, Dutch Vigar, who received his National Youth Licence in the summer. There may only be seven players at the academy - five girls and two boys - at the moment, but there is excitement about its potential.
Vigar, who has 18 years' coaching experience, says he was "sold on the idea" at an early stage.

"This is all about giving the game back to the kids," he says. "There is too much emphasis on winning and there should be more of a focus on child development and an emphasis on small sided play. There are too many games in a season, too much training and a number of injuries as a result."

He says it all comes down to the question: When does winning become an issue?
“Theoretically, the emphasis should be on player development,” Vigar believes. “Winning should take a back seat to player development. ‘Did you play better, perform better?’ Winning should be out of the vocabulary. There are too many egos in the clubs and parents need to be responsible too with the comments they make. A lot of it has to do with education and there needs to be continuing education for parents."

And although the theory will invariably work better in areas like Indianapolis, where there is a greater pool of players, he believes it will be more workable in southern Indiana at a recreational level - and in age groups higher than U9s.
"If we were a very large club, then I think the academy concept at travel level is a good idea but we don't have the player pool," he says. "There are kids on the recreational program that would benefit from the academy. It should be seen as a step to playing select or travel soccer as it makes them better players and they get to raise their level."

He hopes to develop a curriculum for the future and build up a team of around 10 qualified coaches, while also introducing the ethos to U6 teams and up.
Net-Surfers, meanwhile, has a U6 to U8 academy, as well as having 11 girls on its U9 academy team, which trains two days a week for an hour. Coach Julie Deuser said that during the sessions, the girls work on fitness with the ball and footskills, playing a variety of dribbling, passing, and juggling games during practice.

"The idea of the academy is to provide each girl with the foundation for a successful soccer future," she says. "My goal is to help each girl master footskills, juggling, dribbling and passing. A lot of rec teams skim over these topics and it results in players who are far behind in the basics."

As a result, she says her girls have fun on the field and they are learning valuable soccer skills at the same time. She also believes a big plus to the academy program is that the players are being coached by former college players who are also licensed.

"I am a former high school and college player," she reveals. " I played four years of college soccer at Marian College in Indianapolis and I believe that my experience as a player helps me coach these young girls. In a lot of recreational programs the players are being coached by parents, who may have never played the game before.

"The academy is a great program and it is wonderful that Net-Surfers has implemented it. Girls in Louisville and southern Indiana will benefit from the program in many ways."

If you are interested in getting your child involved in a U9 Academy, you still have time. For SIU, you can contact Dutch Vigar at: dvigar@insightbb.com (ph: 812-945-6743) or Julie Deuser (jgullette20@hotmail.com) at Net-Surfers, where there is one place left this season with the U9 academy (anyone can join the younger academy, the U6-U8).

Brothers down Pioneers

You may remember our feature a couple of weeks ago on the band of brothers playing at New Albany this fall.

One of the six sets of brothers comprises Brandon and Adam McLaughlin, who missed out on the interview and photo shoot for that story.

However, they made sure to get their names in lights against Providence in last week's junior varsity game as they combined to score the only goal of the game.

Adam crossed the corner to find his younger brother Brandon in the penalty box, who made no mistake firing it to the back of the net.