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.

Hornets buzzing after first ever win

(Published in The Evening News & The Tribune, September 11, 2007)

It was the second Friday of September 2006 when Henryville played its first ever soccer game against Restoration Christian School.


And it was the first Friday of September 2007 when the Hornets won their first-ever game — a memorable 1-0 victory against Rock Creek. Matt Smith scored the second-half winner, with Jacqueline Guthrie making the assist in what was also Henryville’s first-ever home contest.

“We had a great turnout for the game,” said Henryville’s coed coach, Joey Farmer. “Everything about the night was perfect. Most of our fans were watching their first-ever soccer game, we were playing our very first home game, and we won our first game.”

Coach Farmer, a former Campbellsville University player, started building the Hornets’ soccer nest last year at the junior varsity level and a first season saw them end with an 0-4-3 record, having played all their games on the road. Moving to varsity level this season, the Hornets now have a record of 1-2-1 and Farmer says he can see a definite improvement in the team.

“Without having a little league team in Henryville and all but one player had played before last year, I think that we are coming right along,” he said. “It takes time to build a program from scratch. To continue to grow, I need an assistant coach.”

If you think you can help, you can contact Henryville High School at 812-294-1455 or e-mail coach Farmer at jfarmer@henryville.wclark.k12.in.us.

Meanwhile, Henryville’s next game is at home against Southwestern Thursday.

Do yourself a favor — watch the Women’s World Cup

When out getting my weekly fix of high school soccer games recently, I remarked — not to anyone in particular — that the girls of a certain school may very well do better than its boys this fall, having seen both squads in action.

Someone responded, “I hope not.” Now, I would expect that comment from someone who maybe had a few dollars riding on the outcome of who progressed further with their local bookmaker for the fun of it. Only they don’t have bookmakers in Indiana (legal ones anyway), and I’m sure if they did they wouldn’t have odds on such scenarios.

So I can only put it down to what I call “begrudgeryism.” You probably won’t find that word in the dictionary because I made it up, but basically what it means to me is that the parent of Little Johnny has no interest in seeing the girls’ team at Little Johnny’s school outperform him and his teammates. Self-interest is another phrase that springs to mind.

Personally, this sort of attitude disgusts me and is not confined to this area. If the girls of high school teams go on a longer run than the boys during the state tournament this year — or any year — great. I’ll be waving their colors on the sideline in the regionals and beyond if they do, just like I would the boys.

And I feel that is more of a possibility this year because, despite the increasing popularity of the game in this area, I am disheartened that the standard of boys’ soccer doesn’t seem to have improved from last year (that’s another story for another day), but I am alternatively encouraged by the improvement on the girls’ side.

Just as a matter of interest, the only player in these parts to go professional in any sort of capacity as far as I am aware is a female (Floyd Central graduate Jaime Halas, English Premier League). And it’s the USA’s women’s team which has won two World Cups.
Starting today, USA goes go for a third title — and a first prize of $1 million — as it enters the China-hosted tournament as the No. 1 seed. It plays powerhouse North Korea this morning (re-aired ESPN2, 7 p.m.) before games against Sweden (Friday, 5 a.m.) and Nigeria (Tuesday, Sept. 18, 8 a.m.) in Group B.


You can follow all the action on the ESPN network (live and re-aired) over the next three weeks. You are bound to learn something from the skill, technical acumen and display of heart that will be on show — and that goes for whether you’re a boy or a girl.


Girlpower

Speaking of women’s soccer, Jeffersonville High School graduate Chelsea Grover opened the regular season at Western Kentucky University with 25 minutes as a reserve defender in a 3-0 win over Georgetown last week.

And Halas has helped Keynsham Town (mentioned above) remain unbeaten in four games in the English FA Women’s Premier League Southern Division. Keynsham beat Newquay Ladies 2-0 on Sunday and is now joint third in the table.

Transy's Karaffa hopeful of comeback

Recently, we reported that New Albany High School graduate Matt Karaffa was looking forward to his senior year at Transylvania University, a soccer program fancied to win the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference and put up a bold showing in the NCAA Division III championship.

Unfortunately, disaster struck for Matt before the season even began, as he broke his collarbone in a scrimmage against Campbellsville.

“Our outside midfielder played a through ball for me to run onto and while going after the ball, the defender and I collided in a shoulder-to-shoulder challenge, where I then fell onto the ground right on my left shoulder,” he said.

Team doctor Pete Hester inserted a plate and seven screws to stabilize the bone, and last week he had the stitches removed. He is hoping with plenty of physical therapy that he can be fit enough to play a part in Transy’s important end of season campaign.

“If all goes well, I am shooting for a comeback date somewhere around the middle of October or maybe a little later in October,” he said. “Hopefully, I can get some games in before we start our conference tournament. Every day on the sideline gets me more eager to recover faster. Our victory against Muskingum was a great start to what we think can be a phenomenal and very successful year.”

Pioneers top at Firefigthers' Cup

Providence proved best at the junior varsity Firefighters’ Cup, hosted by Jeffersonville last week.


The Pioneers got off to the best possible start last Wednesday when putting four past Floyd Central in the first half of the tournament opener. Scorers included Evan Coombs, Jared Hennessy, who had two goals, and Justin Throckmorton.

A 1-1 tie with Jeffersonville on Friday was enough to secure the tournament for Providence for the fourth year in a row, as Floyd Central defeated Jeffersonville in the 2-1 in the third game.

Rec soccer kicks off

(Published in The Evening News & The Tribune, September 4, 2007)

Fun is the name of the game as recreational soccer kicks off in Southern Indiana this week.
The Southern Indiana United recreational soccer program caters for hundreds of children from the age of 4 and upwards and is run totally by parent volunteers. The opportunity is provided for all children of any skill level to learn and play the beautiful game between now and the end of October.
SIU registers approximately 550-700 children each season, relying completely on parent coaches. As many teams as possible are set up based on the number of parent volunteer coaches and field availability.
Under 6s will be the first to take the playing field on Thursday at Church of the Nazarene, located next to Floyd Central High School. Then it’s the turn of the U7s, U8s and U10s on Saturday, with the U5s kicking off their careers next Monday.
SIU’s recreation organizers said their main focus is on fun.
“Players learn about good sportsmanship, teamwork and get great exercise,” they said on their Web site, siusoccer.com. “All team members play at least half of every game. There are no cuts or tryouts. Each child receives a uniform and players provide shinguards, a ball and a water bottle.”
Registration for the fall recreational program closed in July. But if you’re interested in getting your child involved in the spring games, you can find out more at the SIU club’s Web site.

Hard test at Hoosier Cup
The Providence boys’ and Floyd Central girls’ varsity teams were up against some of the best squads in the state when traveling to the Hoosier Cup this past weekend.
Some 48 teams from Indiana and Kentucky took part in three boys’ and girls’ pools. The Pioneers, in Pool B, took on Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger — currently listed as a “Team to Watch” in the Indiana Soccer Coaches Association polls — in their opening game, going down 4-0.
The following day, Providence went up against Evansville Harrison in a game that finished 1-1. However, the Pioneers were unlucky to go down to the bleachers on penalties.
In their third game for seventh place, they finished on a high note, beating Edgewood 3-0. Dwenger went on to the Pool B final, where it lost to 2-0 to Avon.
Floyd Central meanwhile, lost its first game 4-0 in Pool E to No. 17-ranked Bloomington South Friday, before going down narrowly to Lexington Lafayette of Kentucky and Greenfield Central, both by 1-0 scorelines.
In fact, the Highlanders’ first-game result turned out to be no disgrace at all, as Bloomington South went on to win the pool by beating No. 11-ranked Brownsburg 2-0.

Hot rivalry at JV Firefighters Cup
High school junior varsity boys’ teams take center stage this week when the fifth annual Firefighters’ Cup is held at Jeffersonville High School.
The rivalry will no doubt be intense as the competition pits the Red Devils against Floyd Central and Providence.
Providence and Floyd Central will kick off proceedings at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. Then on Friday, host Jeff will have a busy evening as it entertains the Pioneers first (5:30 p.m.), followed by a game with Floyd Central at 7 p.m.

September is Youth Soccer Month
Did you know that more than 19 million children between the ages 5-19 participate in soccer regularly in the United States? In fact, more children play the game than peewee football, youth basketball or Little League baseball.
Recognizing the impact and importance the sport plays in the day-to-day lives of America’s families, September has been designated Youth Soccer Month and Indiana Youth Soccer will be celebrating with a variety of youth soccer nights at soccer associations, high schools, colleges and universities across the state.
And with so many high school soccer games going on at the moment, as well as club recreational and select soccer now in full swing, it’s not hard to catch a game in your area (just check our area calendar). Sixty-eight universities countrywide will also host more than 50 events from coast-to-coast.
If that isn’t enough, two collegiate soccer matches will be featured on the Fox Soccer Channel (University of Tulsa versus Virginia Tech on Friday, Sept. 14 and the University of Tennessee versus South Carolina on Thursday, Sept. 27).
Oh, and don’t forget also to watch the FIFA Women’s World Cup, which starts in China next Monday and sees the USA going into the tournament ranked No. 1. More on that in next week’s column.
Meanwhile, Susan Boyd, a featured US Youth Soccer National Championships blogger and soccer parent, will be writing a weekly story about the four messages of Youth Soccer Month — fitness, fun, family and friendship.
You can go to www.youthsoccermonth.org Monday mornings to read her story and to catch up on what’s going on in your area.