Instructions, mentality: attacking, passing style: short, tempo: quick. Ohh hang on a second, I can do this for real now.

Last weekend I completed my Football Federation Australia junior coaching license, so am now a ‘proper’ football manager. Sure I’ll be coaching under 12’s, but thats not what counts, I can pretend to be educated about the game, shout at my young winger to take more shots, and go to official FFA conferences. WOO!!!

But actually, it was great fun. The junior license was a two day course, 9 to 5, something I thought I’d struggle with considering it was my first day of holidays. But really, it was just playing football.

I arrived, sat down, and looked at the imposing FFA folder. Ohh crap. This is going to be a long day. As is inevitable when you get twenty football lovers together in a room, it didn’t take long for the football banter to start, but then our ‘coach’ for the next two days walked in. His name was Pat McCann, and it turns out he used to play for Yeovil Town. But at the time all that mattered was that I was going to have to spend the whole weekend listening to him talk about little kids running around. Borriing.

But no, he soon explained that the majority of the two days would be outside, playing football . After some short theory, we were soon out on the pitch running through some drills. And bamm the day was gone. The second day was slightly more stressful, as we had to run a training drill under the eyes of an ‘assessor’ but it went smoothly, and the assessor liked my dribbling to beat an opponent exercise. Soon we had parted ways, after yelling “see ya in the dugout” at each other, and we were all now proper football coaches. The 16 hours had passed in a heartbeat, and whats more, it was great fun.

But why am I telling you this? Two things (well maybe three). Firstly, I would greatly encourage all of you to get out to your local football organisation and do a coaching license. It took two short days, was mostly spent on the pitch playing football, and overall was great fun.

Secondly, it taught me so many things about football that I never knew. I’ve been playing for eleven years and every training session go for a run. But according to our instructor, this is a waste of time and we should warm up on ball. I always static stretch before a game, but apparent this is actually bad for our muscle elasticity, something needed during a game (instead you should static stretch at home and dynamic stretch before the game). In two days I learnt more about ‘body shape’ then I had in eleven years of playing. And after just sixteen short hours, I now look at football in a completely different way.

Ohh and thirdly, who doesn’t want to be coaching our next generation of World Cup winners. So get out their, have some fun, coach some kids, train your countries next football saviour! Get involved, get coaching and become a real football manager!

If your in Australia, visit FFA to enrol in a course. If not, find you local organisation, and get coaching!

Following on our article on the art and science of goalkeeping, here are some of the goalkeeper training tips that I utilize with my students as well as what I think is the best goalkeeping equipment out there today:

I. Best Goalkeeper Training Tips

Diving

Drills to do Alone

One of the most important things for a goalkeeper to learn correctly is to dive. With a correct diving technique the chance at injury is far less and your football/soccer career can proceed longer. One drill that I have my students do is to put a ball in front of a post at the six yard box. Then put your hand on the far post, take two side steps and dive toward the ball. This will make you attack the ball and learn to land correctly. When you are comfortable with that, add another ball to jump over, and so on. Once one side is comfortable, switch sides and dive the other way.

Drills to do with Someone Else

Drills for a keeper are always easier with another person involved. Here you can incorporate the same drill as above, but have the other person kick it to the space. Once comfortable with that, have the person take full on shots while you dive over a ball or even another player on their knees to incorporate the power dive.

Handling and Catching

Catching a ball cleanly will help prevent any rebounds. The best drill for this is the simplest of all, just have another player kick a ball directly at you. Utilize the “W” technique for your hands (Thumbs together to create a W), and catch the ball cleanly. Once caught bring to your chest. For the low shots bring it in to your chest and fall on your arms. To incorporate catching and handling in your dive, make sure you catch the ball that is kicked or thrown to you and pin it to the ground.

Footwork

In order to work on the footwork, a keeper must utilize everything they can to make the drill a success. Set up five balls about a foot apart, and another ball at an angle about five feet away. Small jumps over the balls, then once you land dive toward the ball at the angle. After a few times, switch sides and work on the other way.

Distribution

This again is best utilized with another person that can throw the ball back to you, however you need to set up target areas to hit with your throws and kicks. If you are alone, then use the goal as your target and step out to midfield. Ideally you should be able to throw a ball just as far as you can kick it if doing it correctly.

Angles

Get the top scorers on your team and have them take shots from all over the 18 yard box. Then have them mix it up and try some break away shots. This will force you to work on your angles and also help you learn where the best angles are to where it becomes second nature to you during a match.

II. Best Goalkeeper Equipment

Goalkeeping Gloves

The best gloves on the market will all depend on your preference of companies. Adidas, Reusch, Nike and Puma all make great gloves. I have personally worn all of them and prefer Reusch as they are only a goalkeeping manufacturer. Try a few out and make your own decision.

One thing that many companies have started to do is finger protection, and I will be the first to say I do not like it. I have played with the finger protection and it actually taught me to deflect everything and catch nothing, thus having to learn again how to catch correctly. This is extremely overrated in my opinion. Underrated is the extra foam on the palm and fingers of gloves. This added protection will give you the ability to catch more and relieve the ’sting’ of the shot. But much like the finger protection, too much and you will catch nothing because of a lack of feel for the ball.

Goalkeeper Jerseys

Many of my players ask if they should wear long sleeves or short sleeves. This is a personal preference, but I prefer short sleeves. If you are diving correctly you should not need the long sleeves, but the pitch you are playing on can determine this answer. Hard ground with little grass you need long sleeves. Playing at Old Trafford I think you can manage short sleeves.

Shorts or Pants

Again a personal preference of how you feel. Shorts for me, unless training, is the only way to go during a game because the shorts give you more mobility. Depending on the pitch I would suggest shorts, but again if it is a hard ground with little grass you need more protection, so pants are the way to go. But 9 times out to 10 I say put on the shorts!

There are more drills that keepers can do to enhance their performance, these were just a few of my favorites that I utilized when I played and that I teach my keepers during training sessions.

The biggest factor is to learn how to push yourself into greater performance. Once you can find that threshold you will be able to achieve anything because the mental aspect will be attained.

I hope these tips help and if you have any questions feel free to ask.

Also See:

The Art and Science of Goalkeeping
Five Tips For Buying Goalkeeping Gloves

Goalkeeping is a special position that takes a special individual to play. I should know – I have been playing it for 15 years and currently train goalkeepers with a local club here in the US and several camps throughout the year.

What most people outside of football/soccer do not understand is that to play the position of a goalkeeper takes extreme training and dedication. Just like you don’t become a good striker by playing up front, you don’t automatically become a goalkeeper just because you managed to emulate John O’Shea in a kickabout with your mates.

So what does it take to become a good goalkeeper? Here are a few things you should work on:

Goalkeeping Technique

Learning the proper technique for punching, diving and sliding will bring out your best performance in the net and ultimately lead you to become a reliable goalkeeper.

Punching

Anyone who can make two fists can punch a ball, however it is the technique involved that makes this truly an art form. Bring both fists together into your chest, and push them out to meet the ball at the opportune moment to propel it away from danger.

However the situation sometimes arises that you can only use one hand to punch, this is alright but not recommended. Always use two hands to punch a ball, and bring one of your knees (whichever is facing the crowd) up to your chest to protect your body.

Sliding

Regardless of how you slide you need to attack the ball. Hands out in front of you meeting the ball, bend your wrists inward to keep any rebound in front of your body and slide through the player. A keeper can not be afraid of contact!

Diving

A proper dive will have the keeper landing on their thigh, shoulder and upper arm. It takes a lot of practice to learn to land correctly, but you will be grateful once you have mastered this technique. Always keep your bottom leg straight, and bring your top leg to your chest for extra power on the dive and protection from players crashing the net.

When catching a ball out of the air, remember to utilize the ground as your third hand and pin the ball down. This will soften the landing as well as use the ground as another tool for not letting the ball bounce off out of your grasp.

Footwork

It is crucial for a goalkeeper to be on the balls of his feet and ready to move at a moment’s notice. Goalkeepers do a lot of work on their reactions and response-time; if you are always ready opposing strikers can’t catch you off guard.

Angles

The objective of closing down angles while goalkeeping is to prevent you from having to dive all of the time, so if you can cut off a player’s angle to where the only shot he has is straight at you, you do not have to dive. Always use your near post as a guide to where you are and what angle you should take. Angles will greatly increase your performance before you even see another player.

Communication

Being the last player on the pitch gives the goalkeeper a tremendous responsibility to the rest of the team. The goalkeeper needs to communicate constantly with his field players. Constant communication will set your team at ease by knowing they will always have someone in their ear that can see what is going on. Not everyone is born with the communication gene, but in order to be a strong goalkeeper you need to learn to communicate on the pitch. Regardless of comfort level.

Corner Kicks

This is all about pushing your comfort level and finding what works best for you. I personally always stood with 3/4 of the goal in front of me with a defender on my back post, because it is easier to run forward instead of tracking back. A good rule of thumb is to find where you are too comfortable, then take away pieces to keep you on your toes. Experiment in training sessions and see what works for you.

Penalty Kicks

PKs, depending on the level of play, can be nothing more than an educated guess. What I tell my goalkeepers is to go on reaction. DO NOT OVER THINK THE SITUATION! Go on your instincts, they are usually right. If you start thinking, “well he is right footed, so he’ll place it in the far corner. But what if he knows I’m thinking that? Then he’ll go near corner, or maybe…”, then you have lost the PK already.

It is said that as goalkeepers develop their skills they can learn to read players before they kick the ball. I believe this is true, but the keeper is already at a disadvantage with PKs, so my suggestion is to just go with your gut and guess.

Goalkeeping Psychology

Mental Preparation

The best advice for mental preparation is to clear your mind of all outside distractions. Many listen to music before a match, others sit quietly by themselves. Your choice, but clear the mind of everything but the game ahead of you.

Staying Focused

Staying focused can be difficult, but it is necessary for a top performance and I would advise training yourself on how to stay focused by constantly thinking about the “What if” scenarios. Always think about the game while at the game, never stray away from those thoughts and always keep your focus.

Staying Balanced

Becoming overconfident can kill a career, not just a game. However becoming too under-confident can do the same thing. It is a delicate balance that must be obtained, and even the professionals struggle with this sometimes. Paul Robinson from England is a great example of how a lack of confidence can throw your career into a tailspin.

Having what I call a “Forgetful Memory” is a must in today’s game. You must forget the last spectacular save you just made, as well as you must forget the last goal that you feel you should have saved. No keeper will ever have a shut out for their entire career, it is just not possible, so every goal and every save needs to be forgotten (in the sense that you learn and move on, not dwell on your personal failure or success).

Match Preparation

Training will only do so much to help you get ready for a match. You must study the opponents. Study their runs, their set plays, their passing tendencies, who takes the PKs, who takes the free kicks, what angles work best, etc. Rely on your training and abilities to make it through the match, but prepare for what you feel can beat you; i.e. set pieces and certain players’ habits. A good example is how opposing keepers prepare for Delap’s rocket throws or Leah’s mortal somersault.

Your Strengths and Weaknesses

Every goalkeeper will learn their strengths and weaknesses quickly. Find those weaknesses and improve them, find your strengths and utilize them more often. But never let the opposition sniff any hesitation if you have to dive on your weaker side or if you have trouble in coming out quickly enough. The opposing team needs to think you are great in all aspects.

Specialized Training

Training with a team is vital and necessary for the development of the keeper. However you will not get nearly as much action with the squad as you will in specialized training. Find a goalkeeping coach to help train you, if you do not have one with your team then look around. There are a ton of old goalkeepers that are willing to share everything they know with new goalkeepers. This training will help you get to the next level of playing, whether that is college, professional or just the next level at your club.

I hope this information has been useful for any keepers out there. Please do not hesitate to ask me any questions you might have about the position or situations that might arise while you are goalkeeping.

This article was originally published on American Soccer News and is reprinted here by their permission. Please visit their website for the latest American soccer news.

As Major League Soccer (MLS) expands from 14 to 18 franchises by 2011 and more beyond, the league is betting on youth academies to supply the growing need for talent. While other franchises already have youth academies up and running, the New England Revolution launched its first U-16 and U-18 teams just this spring.

Mike Burns, the Revolution’s Vice-President of Player Personnel, predicts that “over the next 10 to 15 years, I think you’re going to see the landscape of youth soccer in this country change as dramatically as it has basically, since club teams were introduced in the New England area.”

MLS currently requires clubs to provide one U-16 and one U-18 team, but some have teams that span from U-20 down to U-12. “DC, Chicago, New York come to mind as three MLS teams that have started youth teams years ago. So to be real honest, they’re a little ahead of the curve, but we feel like we’re going to catch up fairly quickly, or at least that’s the intent,” says Burns.

The Revs‘ two youth teams set the foundation for a more serious route of player development more closely resembling that of the U.K. and Europe, where it is an established business. The market here is ripe; John Burrill, Director of Mass Youth Soccer Association, estimates 2007 overall registration at 181,000 and club registration at 7,250. But the success of youth academies abroad is tied to international culture, education, and geography. The new U.S. academies, which plan to offer a professional route, must accommodate U.S. culture, develop new relationships with the existing club structure, and moreover, instill credibility in the investment and return of player development.

Robbie Mustoe is an English midfielder who played in Premier League Middlesbrough for 12 years, briefly coached in its academy, and now works as an ESPN commentator (including the European Championship) and with the Boston College soccer program. “In England and Europe it’s kind of married together,” he says of the youth academy culture. “There’s a route, an avenue forward for these players to go through – right through the ages – to join as a full time academy player. Every day they’re working, they finish high school, and then they may have an option to become a professional player. That’s how it works in England, if it can ever work here, I don’t know.”

In England, the desire to play professional football is instilled in most young boys and the educational system accommodates their development. Students graduate high school at 16 and not nearly as many attend four-year college as in the U.S. There are multiple major clubs with complete and highly competitive youth programs in close proximity, and teenagers use England’s extensive network of public transportation to get themselves to their fully-funded club practice. In contrast, in Massachusetts, players in rigorous college preparatory programs and their parents struggle through hours of gridlocked suburban traffic, consuming scarce time and skyrocketing gasoline prices to attend pay-to-play club practices. Soccer may be the sport, but college is the endgame.

English academy structure sets a standard for training and scouting

Lee Robinson, Head of Sports Science/Education at Premier League West Bromwich Albion FC and former Academy Director of Cardiff City FC, explained the two primary objectives of English academies:

“1) [Create] players to play in senior team (little investment, do not have to buy them for millions!), and 2) Create players to sell to bigger clubs.” At Cardiff, Robinson assisted in the development and sale of Chris Gunter, 17, to Tottenham for $3 million and Aaron Ramsey, also 17, to Arsenal for $5 million.

But Robinson believes MLS “have got it wrong as players 16-18 will already be with clubs and will create resentment if they leave club to go with an MLS academy. You need to get clubs around you too, but into MLS programs, not create problems.” In his experience, if a player “has been tapped up by a bigger club and you have offered him a contract, then you will go to a tribunal if the two clubs cannot agree on a fee . . . this can be a very difficult situation indeed.”

This matter of bigger, richer clubs cherry-picking the best players from smaller clubs has always been a problem overseas and one likely to be seen in the U.S. as well, as the Academy league grows. There is a UEFA ruling requiring compensation for players under 16 years of age, and LA Galaxy coach and former U.S. mens national team coach Bruce Arena feels a similar compensation rate will improve academies in the United States. “Well yeah,” he agreed, “one thing it will certainly do – it will help clubs to get better. For sure, yes.”

Alfonso Mondelo, MLS Director of Player Programs, sees the U.S. compensation situation differently, as the current club structure is pay-to-play. “Once a player is being charged for development, that’s compensation, but if a player is paying to play, the club is not entitled to any compensation,” he opines. “So if it’s a club that does not charge a player, there could be some sort of compensation, but if a player is paying to play, the club is not entitled to any compensation according to the FIFA bylaws . . . If there is a player on scholarship that is not paying to play for that club, then there’s some kind of developmental fees that the club will be entitled to.”

Extended developmental process recognized as critical

English clubs operate on different models, but within a structure and on guidelines that the Premier League has laid down for them. Robinson pushes young players to experience higher levels as a developmental process, in contrast to other “results driven” coaches that allow only proven products to compete with the first teams. Unfortunately, he sees the majority of U.S. coaches of all ages having this “winning mentality,” and fundamentally misunderstanding the development process and selecting all the best players just to have good records. This June, the English Football Association (FA) encouraged this development philosophy by banning competitive U-8 leagues due to “the urgent need to improve skills and technique among young English players.”

The franchise academies compete in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy League along with select pay-to-play club teams. The Academy league currently has approximately 75 teams across the country with nine in Connecticut, New York, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts playing in the Revolution’s group. The players are permitted and encouraged to play for their high schools, but are prohibited from playing in state cups and Olympic Development Programs. According to Alfonso, players are only signed for one year, as opposed to two in England, and at the end of the season every player becomes a free agent. The Academy league doesn’t use the promotion and relegation mechanism that currently marshals the Massachusetts Premier League (MaPLE), from which also has sprung the developmental Massachusetts Soccer Conference (MASC), a youth soccer club without relegation.

Mondelo advocates the development approach, noting the franchise youth academies, “are not in the business of having to win a Championship.” Alfonso believes the fully funded aspect of a franchise academy will help support the best players, the clubs “taking them not just because they can afford to pay for the training, but based on their ability.” MLS allows each academy to determine its own level of overall investment, but requires them to fully cover the costs of the selected players.

Irish-born Ed Kelly is a former U.S. national team player, head of the New England Eagles FC, and head Boston College soccer coach for 19 years, during which time he coached Charlie Davis, formerly with the Boston Bolts and recently signed with Hammarby. Kelly sees the Academy league, where club coaches won’t have to worry about relegation, as a remedy to the “win at all cost” mentality. He said, “You’re talking about development. Some of the [MaPLE] games are so bad because people are so paranoid about getting promoted or getting relegated, and they forget about playing soccer. They forget what they’re in business for, as far as developing players.”

But it is a business, and Kelly witnessed the club compensation conflict emerge around Davis when he was transferred to Hammarby. “Charlie Davis left Boston College to go to Hammarby, and Hammarby sent to papers to me and to [the club] to sign releases, but the Bolts would not sign the release and they demanded that they get compensation, and Charlie had to give them $10,000 of his [own] money so he would sign the release. Tri-Valley and Delco signed off, but the Bolts did not sign off . . . their view on it was that he was a scholarship player, that they funded him when he was playing for them for a year or two.”

Strong academies require substantial funding

Fully developed, youth academies require massive investment in terms of personnel, facilities, transportation, and materials, which are shared with the first team and reserves. West Brom’s Robinson states that annually “clubs can invest anything between GB500,000 up to 10 million [annually] depending on club.” Overseas, higher costs are often driven by the purchase of international youth talent, currently a hotly debated issue as it is seen limiting roster opportunities for native players, and thus the development of national team players. Robinson’s aim is to create local talent and support them with two or three notables from outside the area.

England native Peter Bradley is the director the PDL Crusaders and Mass Premier Soccer (MPS), which is building three facilities with multiple indoor and outdoor fields in the suburbs north, west, and south of Boston. Bradley is heavily invested in the development process of boys and girls from the very early years and also scouting, much in the way of the larger English clubs.

Moreover, Bradley claims MPS is the top U.S. provider of MLS and overseas professionals, having sent over 30 players in all, including Joseph Ngwenya and goalkeeper Troy Perkins. He spoke about the needs and objectives of academy directors. “They want to see players like Wayne Rooney come through. Then eventually if he’s sold for $10, 15, 20 million, then job done – we’ve brought this boy up from eight, he’s now being sold for $20 million – that now substantiates our academy program for the next X number of years . . . Where’s the next Michael Owen? Where’s the next whoever it may be? We have to find him, because otherwise you can’t have your nice turf fields and your nice staff and your going to lose your athletic trainer and you’re going to lose your doctor . . . The bottom line means that the club must make one to five player sales [annually] to support the club.”

When asked whether MLS academies will be in the business of developing players to sell them, Mondelo sees that as a possibility. “There are selling clubs and this is how they survive, and they might not even be first division clubs,” he said. “If they’re in an area where they have access to a lot of players, they take those players and develop them, and their goal is just to be able to move them on to sell them to higher clubs. That could be done if kids could be signed at a young age and they could keep the contact for a number of years. That model I think works in the United States. So, I think yes.”

MLS clubs are searching for new ways to fund salaries required to attract and keep quality players, who are notoriously underpaid and can make far more overseas. But overseas clubs earn substantial revenue from merchandise sales, a response to a long-term fan base not yet existing in the United States, and MLS ticket sales are only now reaching into the black. The New England Revolution, however, have resisted the lure of an expensive designated player and instead brought in young players from as far as Gambia and Zimbabwe, as close and Newton and Wellesley, and under the leadership of English coaches Steve Nicol and Paul Mariner, topped the entire league for two months earlier this season. Despite their success, salaries run from $12,900 for a developmental contract, and from $33,000 on the first team with six players making over $100,000 and only two more beyond, Shalrie Joseph and Taylor Twellman, topping $300,000.

Revolution academy structure follows MLS guidelines

Although MLS has general guidelines, each academy has a certain amount of autonomy in how they configure their youth academy. Says Mondelo, “We recognize that each club is different and each one has its own intricacies, so we leave it pretty much up to them what’s going to work in their market, and how they can get this up and running.” There is no required investment and MLS makes no contribution except for sponsoring the SUM U-17 Cup, picking up travel expenses and team fees.

Per MLS Academy guidelines, the Revolution are allowed to “protect” three players per year, which allows the players to bypass the super draft. Protected players can retain amateur status, attend college full time, and play with the club in the summer. When they graduate, they can play for any international team they are eligible for, but if they sign for MLS, they will play for the Revolution, which would own their rights, only in MLS. That means should the player be transferred, the Revolution would keep a large part of the transfer fee, which Mondelo currently estimates at 60-70%. Another MLS requirement is that the player must be involved with the club for two years before he can be protected. That means the Revolution are nearly two years away from protecting their first players.

Comparable to overseas contractual regulations, there is an MLS restriction that only allows clubs to protect players living within a 75 mile radius of the training facility, considered Gillette Stadium until the Revolution build their soccer specific stadium and training facilities elsewhere. However, “we can have anyone we’d like play for our youth teams,” says Burns. “As far a protecting the player, that’s accurate. Not in terms of who plays for us, though.” Such a player, if found valuable, could relocate, as is often done abroad. Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea, West Ham, and Fulham all operate in London so the competition for young talent is fierce; young prospects can be encouraged to relocate.

“Middlesbrough has a high percentage of players from their youth academy,” notes Mustoe. “When I say high percentage, I’m only talking about 20% of the roster. So on the roster of a 25 first team squad, they might have five that came through the academy. But other clubs are not as good as that and they might have only one or two players that came through the academy.”

On June 24, the Revolution announced the rosters for the two teams of their program, headed by Mario Prata, with players from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. Although the Revolution’s primary objective is to find a couple players to move onto the first team, Burns sees other benefits for players. “It provides a platform to be scouted not only by MLS coaches, but also by playing in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy . . . it’s going to provide an opportunity for these kids to be scouted by college coaches as well as professional coaches.” In this way, the Revolution is softening the perceived risk of a professional soccer career to concerned parents, assuring them their boys will be encouraged to pursue a secure future via college.

The debate over college soccer has high stakes

Most U.S. MLS players have college degrees, but overseas many players in their teens, no doubt encouraged by the lure of high salaries, step right into professional contracts. But MLS salaries are not so magnetic and native players rarely consider pro soccer a “career choice.” Acknowledging the degree as the endgame, most coaches and players concede the college soccer route inadequately prepares top players for a professional career. In fact, when asked how the U.S. should create players for the World Cup, Doug Williamson, Assistant Director of Coaching Education and Development for the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) responded, “I think you have to do it outside the college environment . . . If a young person today wants to become a professional soccer player and has that goal, their best option is to get involved in the academy development programs and to look at options other than the college environment . . . The odds of becoming a professional player going through the traditional college route in this country are really poor.”

So, Fulham’s $4 million transfer fee for the Revolution’s Clint Dempsey may not have turned heads overseas, but the cash-strapped MLS looked back at the sketchy kid playing in the dirt in Nacogdoches, Texas, considered the thousands of boys careening around patchy fields across this country, and found a way to proceed through a professional approach to player development.

Also See: Youth Football in the US, Youth Training – USA v Germany and How can we help American youth training for our previous coverage of American youth football.

In part one, I looked at the differences between German and American youth training methods. In part two, I look at the different ways American youth training can be improved and what needs to be done in terms of investment and changing mindsets.

Are American Youths Getting Proper Training?

The biggest problem for American youth training, according to Jim Dower, co-founder and executive director of Urban Initiatives, and coach of the Wilmette Wings, is that, despite that there are hundreds of kids playing soccer on the weekends, it’s impossible to know if any of the kids engage in proper skill training.

Dower himself played AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization) soccer, and Dower described the training as, “some guy looking in a book, trying to do a drill, not really understanding what the point of it is, and really can’t give the little coaching technique tips – paying attention to the part of the foot you use, or the amount of touches you have on the ball. Building up from doing this exercise, and building up to a bigger exercise, then building it into a structured semi-game play, and then sort of a full or small sided game, and working into a larger field game.”

Dower’s proper training began when he trained with a coach who had actual professional experience with Sheffield United. “I didn’t understand the real important shifting and shape aspects of soccer until I got to high school, and trained with a guy who trained in Europe, and knew how to teach these concepts to kids. I’m not saying there aren’t Americans who don’t know how to do that but they’re definitely in much shorter supply.”

Dower’s personal experiences are indicative of how Americans are catching on to the trend and employing people who, while probably having played competitively, probably also have a British accent.

“Nowadays, you go to any travel competitive soccer club in the Chicagoland area, and there is at least one foreigner who is part of the curriculum development team or part of the head coaching staff, so they make sure those types of training exercises are incorporated.“

Simply having a foreigner with an accent, though, doesn’t guarantee successful training technique.

“I went down and watched a practice downtown, and there were some British guys there who knew soccer but by the way the training session was run, I was appalled.

Because I have been around it and seen what a good session looks like, I think, ‘wow, if I was a parent paying $1500 for this, I’d be upset.’”

Tom Dunmore of Pitch Invasion, agrees that sometimes a top price will not equate the top technical skills necessary to become a talented player; it may just be the money necessary to keep the clubs in business. “Chasing trophies to justify high fees is necessary for independent travel clubs, but fortunately, MLS academies can change this as they will have less imperative to win youth trophies, and more need to just develop technique and skill for the future.”

The MLS youth academies are new, so it’s yet to be seen how successful they will be in training and attracting younger players.

“It’s only very recently (within the past year or two for all but one MLS club) that MLS teams have started really investing in youth academies, and even more recently that MLS changed the rules so that clubs must have a youth academy and can sign two players per year direct to their roster (rather than the players having to go through a central dispersal draft),” said Dunmore.

“This will change things dramatically. Clubs are offering these academies for free, and so can attract the best players who previously played for expensive ‘travel clubs’ or those who could not even afford to play for local teams due to their fees. They may never be as good as Europe, but I see them as becoming far more important.”

The Impact of Mass Interest and Money

Hamburg SV’s goal for its youth academies is just as the MLS’s – to get the younger players into the senior team, and if not Hamburg, another professional club that they have existing relationships with. Still, the differences are stark between the two – the competition is still not as advanced as that in Germany, and the salaries in the MLS still pale in comparison to the other major American sports, let alone other European soccer players.

“MLS is earning more respect in American sport, which will help, but salaries are still too low to attract many of the best athletes, who see the riches available in other sports more easily,” said Dunmore. Not all of this is the MLS’ fault, but the product of years and years of soccer taking a backseat to other major American sports.

“The biggest downfall is the perception of the game (even if it’s not really true), that it’s mainly a white, suburban sport for soccer moms to give their kids a safe sport to play in. Its biggest strength is that ultimately, there is a huge youth soccer movement, and massive resources to invest in it – it just needs to be funneled into the right kind of training and infrastructure,” says Dunmore.

Adam Spangler of the blog This Is American Soccer would probably agree that there is a disconnect between the youth soccer movement and massive resources that need to be better organized. Spangler cites as an example China, who just came off of a fantastic run as hosts of the Olympics, and he believes they set an example of how putting their mind and resources toward something with the world’s biggest population really translated in athletic strength, as they topped the U.S. in gold medals. Money-Resources-Implementation is what Spangler believes to be most controlling in growing soccer in America.

Still, China possesses many differences that set it apart from America, and the concept of throwing money at this problem is difficult because of the MLS’s limitations with salaries and club independence, and also because China seemed to take a great interest in seeing their country succeed as a whole, whereas the majority of Americans still can’t be bothered with soccer.

Recreating the emphasis that Americans have with other sports and making soccer a priority sport is necessary to grow soccer in America but the task is difficult. “Its just American culture. Of course the sport would grow should kids choose soccer over American football or basketball or baseball, but as a development rule, we can’t depend on that or think we can change it in any foreseeable time table,” believes Spangler.

Dower agrees that the fact that soccer is not ingrained in the American fabric is a problem for soccer’s expansion. “People who coach in Wilmette, their families have a much better understanding of their kid becoming a great basketball or baseball player, and that’s definitely from a parent perspective what I see come out. They say, my kid is a great athlete, I know baseball or basketball more than soccer, so I push my kid in that direction so I can be more involved.”

What Can Be Done?

It appears the difference between American and German youth training can be summarized as a lack of popularity in the sport. The lack of soccer knowledge, and the fact that there is still a majority of the population complacent in the unknown of soccer, has manifested itself into some drawbacks: a lack of advanced, soccer specific coaching techniques, a misunderstanding among those who play soccer about what the best coaching for American soccer should be, a lack of a competitive top league for youth players to aspire to, and a lack of encouragement from parents and the public in funneling support to the sport.

These are issues that countries like Germany have never had to encounter, at least not as recently as America has. Every passing year will see these problems lessen, but for now, a time frame just cannot be accurately set. “I don’t think 5 years is enough time to see any big changes,” says Spangler. “The changes will come, if they come at all, in 25-50 years, no sooner than 10. Its incremental changes that are hard to quantify and measure.”

Dower believes that exposing Americans to top notch soccer overseas, rather than the MLS, is the key to attracting more interest. “I had friends who went and studied abroad and really got into soccer,” said Dower. “When they were here, soccer wasn’t a real sport to them but after seeing a top league they really got into it.”

America has decades of catching up to do if they’re trying to mold their youth programs and professional players into what countries like Germany already have. “It would be naive for any individual or group to think they can change soccer in this country quickly,” said Spangler. “Culture isn’t changed from outside, it is an inward reaction to the outside. So you change the outside and hope the culture comes around. In the end, all the money and marketing in the world may never make American soccer equal to its international competitors.”

Spangler may have a point, but it’s the small steps that can help this inward change move outwards. Soccer has already grown in popularity in the last 10 years, in part because of the strong youth programs that American kids participate in at a young age. The establishment and growth of the MLS, the popularity of the World Cup and other major competitions in American viewership, and the exposure that the sport has gained may not be enough, but it’s a start.

The more kids who begin to play on their own, on the streets, from an organic love of soccer is what will begin to change the sport from inside out, and begin to force the existing soccer industry to change. Taking cues from what other countries like Germany have done indicates that America isn’t that different – what is different is the inherent love and interest in the game, which is also most frustrating as it cannot be taught. But if soccer lovers in American keep trying, it could possibly be learned.

Despite the fact that on any given weekend Americans drive through the suburbs and see lush green fields spattered with kids playing soccer, the popularity the sport has with America’s youth remains stubbornly slow to translate to American adults.

As most soccer fans know, this is not the situation for other countries. Soccer there is known as football, and it is played as religiously as Little League is in America. So as the world begins to play their World Cup qualifying games, while we can hopefully expect to see in 2010 a strong American team, it will still probably lag behind countries like Germany, in part because America has not caught up to their counterparts and the gaps begin with America’s youth.

In this two-part series, I take an in-depth look at the present and future of American soccer at its youth levels, and in part one, I take an example from German club Hamburg SV and compare some of their youth training methods with those in American youth soccer.

Breaking Down the Differences

Hamburg SV youth academy director Markus Hirte, when asked about how Germany differs from other clubs, stated that his club plays “a little smoother, and a little more coordinated. In Germany, teams have a lot of discipline and technique which makes up our power in soccer.”

No one will dispute that Germany’s professional squads are more coordinated and more technically gifted when compared to America’s professional players, but the heart of the question still remains why.

For Hamburg SV, the youth training can begin when the players are 8 or 9 years old, when they are scouted and invited to try out. A lot of the players are scouted from around Germany but are not necessarily local, so once scouted and invited to train and play, they stay at a boarding house. Hamburg SV has an entire staff that is employed at this home away from home – a cook, a house mom, and tutors.

If, after the time expires, Hamburg doesn’t feel that the player fits with their squad but has talent to sustain him to another club, they will try to find other clubs for the player to go to. “In Hamburg, we educate the players for our team, our professional team, but not all of them can reach that level. Some of them go to other clubs at a smaller level. Our target – our goal – is to always train players from youth allotment into the professional team,” says Hirte.

Approximately 120 players make up the Hamburg SV youth program, and the teams are separated by age (Under 19, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, and 12). This is one of the first differences of German youth training compared to American training. Hamburg separates their youth players into teams based on age, and doesn’t necessarily adhere to the A and B squads that American sports are so fond of. Hirte says, “Good individual players, good skills, but you always need a team. A good player is nothing without the team, but the individual player is the base for good football at the high level.”

Jim Dower, coach for the Wilmette Wings and co-founder and executive director of Urban Initiatives, believes that the A vs. B team mentality is a detriment.

“From my understanding, in England there is no A or B or C team until you’re U-12, whereas in the U.S., with 8 or 9-year-olds, you’re told ‘you’re the best so you play with the best, you’re the worst so you play with the worst.

I think you can often see a 9 year old who isn’t as great at 9, but by the time they are 11 or 12, they have grown into their body. If you don’t place them in a situation to be pushed as much as they could, and treat them with the same level of attention as you give really good players, you aren’t giving them the right opportunities.”

In developing skills and technique, Tom Dunmore of Pitch Invasion, thinks that part of the problem may be America’s style of play.

“There has for too long been an over-emphasis on athleticism and organization rather than flair and ingenuity in coaching kids.

But, this is as much a cultural as a technical problem, though one has many exceptions to the rule, especially with the growing Hispanic influence.”

With the multiple layers of culture in America, it may be hard to pin down a style to train American youth players in. “Americans play a style often referred to as athletic, but is a bit of all the world’s styles, just as our culture is. The melting pot is the cliché thrown around in regards to both our nation and our soccer. This means untechnical to a lot of people, but that’s not necessarily so,” says Adam Spangler of the blog This Is American Soccer.

Skill training is the biggest demarcation between America and German youth development. Hirte stresses that each player must possess good skills and good technique, that the players must be able to play very fast and have good strength, one on one. Hamburg institutes a battery of tests for each player when they begin playing and will revisit those skills to gauge improvement, and to see what players need to work on individually. There is a 5 meter sprint, a coordination test, a speed test, a head–ball handling test. These tests are done every year, in part to determine if the players are getting better or not. It also gives the coaching staff a base for each player.

Hirte says, “If the guy is slow but good technically, he’s no good if he’s too slow.”

The second thing is good discipline and tactics. Technique is the most important thing, because you can learn tactics all over, so in youth teams, technique is most important. As the player gets older, tactics will get better.”

Part Two: How can we help American youth training?

In these heady days of multi-billionaire takeovers of clubs in the English Premiership and Championship, the subject of developing young players has again risen to the fore.