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.

Maintaining Fitness Throughout the Season

     One challenge that many coaches probably experience each season is how to keep their players fit for the whole season.  We often tend to emphasize pre-season conditioning so the players are “in shape” for that all-important first match.  Other coaches prefer to build fitness in the early season so the players “peak” later in the season when championships are on the line.

     So what can we do to get our players fit and keep them at an optimal level throughout the season?  This is a tough question with many variables that come into play.  Age of the players is certainly a factor as is the length of the season.  Gender, climate, and level of competition are also factors that need to be taken into account.

     A great rule of thumb that seems to be good advice is to break up the fitness training program into cycles throughout the season.  Below is just a sample that can be adapted for any age or timeline:

     Preseason – build up strength, endurance and core fitness with increased intensity over a three week period.  For instance during the first week train the athletes at 70% maximal intensity, second week 85%, and third week 100% intensity.  During the fourth week, ease off on the intensity to approximately 75% to preserve some energy for the first match.

     Season – Following a similar formula as pre-season, go with a four week rotation of intensity.  Instead of moving up to 100% intensity though back off a bit and follow a 70, 80, 90% intensity for fitness training in your cycle.   You may want to adjust this schedule in a manner that accommodates tournaments or your most important matches so that you team is in prime condition for these events. 

     An important thing to consider is that as athletes get over-fatigued they are more injury prone.  If your team is experiencing more injuries than usual you might need to allow some time for them to recover so ease off on the intensity for a bit.  Keep in mind that any group of athletes is going to have varied levels of tolerance.  Some athletes are iron-horses that seem to be able to always push hard.  Others need a little more attention.  I guess how you deal with that depends on your philosophy as a coach.  I’ve seen athletes seriously injured because their coaches pushed them too hard or they have that do or die mindset that we coaches love, until they tear an ACL or something.  Others begin to have significant drops in performance during matches because they left it all on the training pitch.  I feel that a personal connection to each athlete on your team will help you to be attentive to each athletes needs.  An athlete should never be afraid to tell his or her coach that they feel awful or have nagging injuries.  I’ve seen a lot of athletic careers end prematurely due to the athlete not having faith that his or her coach would understand followed by either a serious injury or a loss of love for the game.

     There are many variations to the training cycles I’ve listed above.  The most important thing is to pay close attention to how your players are handling it all.  Another trick to see how you are doing as a coach is to go back to past season records and see when your teams play their best and when they don’t.  Could fatigue be a factor in the parts of the season when they lose games or give up more goals?  However we coaches do it, we need to make sure we are taking the best care possible of our athletes.

Off Season Fitness

     Spring is probably an odd time to talk about off-season training however with the length of many competitive soccer seasons its never a perfect time to mention it.  By the way, I’m very glad that spring is here and this is my blog so I’m going to talk about it anyway.  A lot of our soccer players practically play year-round.  Even with a somewhat short off-season many players like to take in an indoor or futsal league on their “free” time.  All for love of the game. 

     Just my own personal opinion but I think its good for these athletes to take a break away from the game and do something different for a few weeks.  After a long season there is a great deal of latent fatigue that shows itself in weight loss, mild depression, slow healing injuries and more.  A break from the game is a good thing in many different ways.  This doesn’t mean that the athlete should just sit and do nothing.  Okay, do nothing for a week but then get out and do something active.  Consider this an active vacation from soccer.   Sort of like a weekend fishing trip with the boys so your wife can shop with her girlfriends.  You still love each other but a break is a great thing.  (Excuse the stereotype but you get the point.) 

     Active rest is the original “cross-training”.  Any activity is great however there are some that lend themselves well to the game of soccer.  Hiking is good, especially if there are lots of hills to work the quads and lungs.  If you have snow where you live then cross-country skiing is an excellent way to build cardiovascular fitness as well as leg strength.  Some of the “most fit” athletes based on VO2max (maximal oxygen consumption) are Nordic cross-country skiers so  this is a great way to go in the winter months.  Another activity that is very good for soccer players is cycling.  Cycling is low impact and thus allows nagging recurrent injuries to heal.  It’s also very good at building up the musculature around the knees.  This never hurts a soccer player.  Plus it helps build those all-important quads that soccer players need.

     Another good reason for this alternate group of activities is psychological.  I guarantee that after a couple of weeks off, a soccer player will return to the game with increased passion and energy for the game.  I think I’m due for a fishing trip.

 

NCAA and The Beautiful Game

            I would doubt that anyone that has been involved with soccer for any length of time in the US has not had to deal in some way with NCAA rules.  Regardless of whether or not your team is a collegiate team you have probably had to make sure that you are not breaking any NCAA commandments.  We take precautions to make sure that our youth players are not involved in situations where their NCAA eligibility might be affected.  Youth teams, high school teams, club teams, summer amateur teams, indoor teams, and more need to toe the line for an organization that clearly doesn’t understand the game like they should.

One question I raise is “should the NCAA have so much control over this game or should they lighten up and do what is best for the sport and the athletes”?  For instance, the collegiate soccer season is really rather short when compared with how the game is played everywhere else in the world.  To answer this they allow a “mini” spring soccer season that is really just tossing a marshmallow to a bear in a zoo.  (I know, dumb analogy.)  Not too many teams take this very seriously.   I believe the coaches use this little bit of time to keep their players in shape so they’ll return after the summer in better shape.  If asked I would bet that they would prefer to be able to have real serious competition during this spring season.

Another question has to do with developing players for higher levels.  It’s rare to see a US player be successful in the professional ranks outside of the US after a four year stint in college.  The ones that do are competing against seasoned veteran players of 20 or younger who have played professionally for a few years already, playing for 9-10 months per year as opposed to the American kid who only plays for 4-6 months per year.  It takes some time to work into that level of fitness.  Will the US ever make a serious challenge in the World Cup if we focus on collegiate players?  Naw. 

One problem as I see it is that because some athletic programs have had serious breaches of the NCAA rulebook (usually in American football and men’s basketball) all the other sports suffer from misdirected wrath that intends to keep collegiate sports clean, holy and pure.  Another issue is the thought that all sports should fall into the same type of season.  This just doesn’t work with soccer.  Baseball gets a raw deal on this one as well.  Teams in northern tier states have to deal with weather issues that challenge them every season since they are forced to start in the spring and be finished before the summer break.  More and more baseball programs appear to be going under.

Do I have a solution?  Not really.  But I think the dialogue for soccer needs to begin.  Those of us who love this game need to speak out a little more and see if we can improve the situation.  Personally I’d like to see the NCAA lighten up and improve the sports they represent in a way that makes sense.  Either that or we need to build up academy or non-NCAA amateur leagues.

*Would love you to share your opinion.

The Question of "Game Speed" Training

     One of my favorite types of technical training drills are what I like to call “Fatigue Drills”.  I like these not because I’m an evil, masochistic coach.  Rather, I believe that we as coaches work on skill development under circumstances that are a little too pristine sometimes.  It’s important for the athlete to learn the basics skills in a step-by-step way however once they have gained a certain ability they need to be able to use that ability in realistic situations.  Many matches are won or lost in the waning minutes as players are fatigued and their quality of play starts to fall off.  Also, technique falters when an athlete is in oxygen debt after an intense series of runs or moves, especially late in a match.  Advantage swings to the opponent.

     Helping a player improve his or her technical skills while they are on the verge of exhaustion will certainly pay dividends when the game is on the line.  Improved mental focus will also result as the player’s confidence is enhanced by useful training practices.

     One advantage of this type of training is that the athlete becomes self-aware of what they can and cannot do when they’re running out of steam.  This knowledge translates into the athlete’s ability to modify and therefore improve their touch on the ball or positioning or whatever it is that needs improvement.

     True “game speed” for training sessions and scrimmages is nearly impossible to achieve.  There is nothing like playing in real games to push a player to “game fitness”.  Nevertheless, if we strategically plan our training sessions in a way that makes the most sense where we push our players to work on technique during the “butt-dragging” phase of a practice I believe we will see positive outcomes.  Yes the players will complain but will appreciate it when they see results in real matches.

*Feel free to comment on and share what you do to help create “Game Speed” in training sessions.

Have a Coke... or Pepsi...or not!

     As I take a sip of my 32oz. Bladder Buster Diet Pepsi I reflect on the different comments from coaches that I’ve experienced over the years regarding athletes drinking sodas.  As a young athlete (my friends are laughing right now at that inference) my coaches usually had the following rule: “No soda during the season, it will cut your wind!”  Even coaches that I’ve worked alongside disregard my lecturing them on the silliness of the idea as they pass on this “timeless coaching knowledge” to their players.

     Let’s look at the realities and myths of soda.  As far as “cutting your wind” goes, there is no mechanism that allows carbonation to make its way into the bloodstream and then into your lungs thereby diminishing your ability to breath properly.  It hits your stomach and comes back out in the form of burps.  This could affect athletic performance if one drank soda immediately before a bout of exercise but does not stay in our bodies for any length of time.  I would discourage soda immediately before a game or practice though.

     What about soda causing osteoporosis?  Research done as part of the Framingham Osteoporosis Study as reported in the American Journal of Nutrition (2006 Oct;84(4):936-42) states that soda soft drinks do not appear to lead to bone density loss however cola based sodas do for women.  This is based on caffeine and phosphorus in the colas.   Regular soda doesn’t contain these.  It is widely felt that supplementation with calcium will easily offset this if it is a concern (National Osteoporosis Foundation http://www.nof.org).

     Isn’t caffeine a diuretic that would promote dehydration in athletes?  Kalman and Lepeley in the April 2010 Strength and Conditioning Journal (vol. 32 number 2) report findings that show that there was really no significant difference in fluid loss based on caffeine intake versus placebo intake and suggest that caffeinated soda beverages can be used in rehydration for athletes.   In fact, Marie Spano MS, RD, CSCS reports that athletes who utilize caffeine report less muscle soreness after strenuous workouts (Strength and Conditioning Journal Feb 2010 vol. 32 number 1).

      Now that I’ve justified drinking sodas, I must mention some negatives.  A regular soda contains a bunch of empty calories in refined sugar.  This has its place though.  Many endurance athletes will drink a “defizzed” Coke towards the end of a long race to give them an extra boost of energy for the end of a race.  To do this just open a can or bottle of Coke and leave it in the fridge overnight.  An athlete can get away with this kind of thing because they are expending so many calories each day that any negative effects are done away with based on the workload.

     I recommend that athletes follow a good well rounded nutrition plan and hydration plan.  If they want to rehydrate after a game with a 44 ounce Mountain Dew, don’t worry too much about it coach, especially if they win!