The Problem(s) with Youth Soccer (JusMaPinion)

     I felt the need to bring up a subject this week that stirs a fair amount of emotion amongst the soccer community here in the US as well I’m sure in other countries that are trying to develop the game.  That is youth soccer development.

     With the huge population of youth soccer players in the US why can’t we be more competitive on the world stage?  Jurgen Klinsmann and Claudio Reyna look to be headed in the right direction but they can only do so much from the top.  Our women previously dominated the world soccer stage and still are major players but as other countries put more effort into building women’s programs we are not as strong as we could be.  We have occasional glimpses of brilliance from our men’s ranks; Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard, Brad Friedel, Brian McBride, Carlos Bocanegra and Claudio Reyna.  But with literally millions of soccer players in the US we should dominate men’s soccer and I believe could easily produce hundreds of players like those mentioned.  Not to diminish their accomplishments but the sheer statistics of it all should prove that there are a lot of great players that we’re not seeing.  Change needs to come from the roots, not just from coaching but from the players as well.

     One interesting trend I’ve noticed over the years is the “Dad as Coach” scenario.  On this kind of team the coach’s kid almost always starts and is usually a forward, since that is the “glory position”.  Heaven forbid that the coach’s kid be banished to the dregs of defense!  A good coach should be able to put bias aside and coach his/her “team”, not just their own offspring.  Most of these kinds of coaches stop coaching when their child outgrows the game or moves on to a higher level.  We need coaches who coach for an outright love of the game.

     We also need players who play for love.  With a lack of organized soccer in the neighborhood where I grew up we played anywhere we could, usually on asphalt.  We had organized baseball but the best games were the sandlot games that popped up anywhere anytime.  I’d love to do a study to find out where the best players in the world developed their skills.  My money says in the streets of their home-towns.

     Another trend that I feel hurts soccer is the “pay to play” mentality.  In any big city in the US you will find soccer clubs that cost parents upwards of $10k per year.  These are also the players who can afford to go to the big soccer camps where they get looked at by the big collegiate programs whereas the kids who can’t afford to play on the premier clubs struggle with inferior coaching, facilities and equipment.  We need to find a way to get these kids noticed because I guarantee there are a lot of very talented athletes who are being overlooked because they live in “fly-over” states or towns or play on teams with minimal financial support.

     Bless those Mom’s and Dad’s who coach their kid’s teams though.  That’s how I got involved.  I haven’t coached my own children for several years now but still love to coach and develop the players.  My most memorable win as a coach was when I took a team of misfits and cast-offs that no one else wanted and worked with them for two seasons.  We won one game.  It was the last game of season two with only eleven total players available and a completely inexperienced keeper.  Almost half of these boys made their high school teams and have gone on to be pretty good players.  I mention this not to show my prowess as a coach but to show that by just giving a little attention to kids who deserve better and taking the time to teach them the game they will find a way to win and improve.  I will forever be grateful to those boys for what they taught me about love of the game, hard work, fun and dedication.

Dietary Supplementation in Soccer

It seems that a topic that comes up frequently amongst athletes is “Dietary Supplementation” or vitamins.  Over the years there have been several fads and myths about what works best and what doesn’t.  I’ve seen a lot of unique approaches to supplementing in that time.  As a college student I felt that a well rounded and vitamin-rich diet consisted of crust for carbohydrates, pepperoni and cheese for protein, and tomato sauce for vegetable.  Pizza, the miracle food for college students!

Millions of dollars are spent each year on vitamins.  Many companies promote extremely high dosages of certain vitamins that are sure to improve athletic performance and increase speed of recovery.   Many of these companies promote their claims with questionable research that sometimes edges on the “Wild West Medicine Show” side of the sports world.  The “supplement du jour” changes frequently as athletes get paid to promote and use these vitamins.  Younger athletes buy this stuff up like tourists buy cheap t-shirts.

So what works and what doesn’t?  I work alongside Registered Dieticians who study this stuff all the time.  Harmoniously they state that a well-rounded diet that includes protein, carbs, a little “healthy” fat, and foods rich in colorful vegetables and fruits will give you all the vitamins you will ever need.  Nanna Meyer, a world renowned sports nutritionist who works with the USOC and many world class athletes stated her opinion about most of the supplementation that athletes spend so much money on.  “It’s very expensive urine”, she said.  Meaning that the body will use what it needs and excrete the rest.  She further suggests that if an athlete feels the need to use vitamins then they should go with a simple over-the-counter multi-vitamin.

So, as much as I hate to admit it my mom was right.  Eat your fruits and vegetables.