It was great to see that the Ontario Soccer
Association, in conjunction with the Canadian Soccer Association, hosted a
major FIFA Grassroots coaching course last week.
The 4-day program attracted some of the province’s most
qualified coaches to participate in a program that is sure to benefit
soccer-playing youngsters in the years ahead.
Ontario is in the process of implementing Long-Term Player
Development, a philosophy that aims to place individual skill development at
the forefront of the how coaches approach their job.
For years, the emphasis has been, at the younger ages, on
winning games. This creates a thought
process—and ultimately a youth soccer culture—whereby coaches look to recruit the
biggest, oldest and fastest players at these early ages, so their ‘rep’ teams
can “win” their local league and advance in the so-called pyramid of play to
the best leagues.
However, that approach has often resulted in misplaced priorities
as well as missing ‘late-bloomers’ and discouraging a majority of players from
staying in the sport. These are often
youngsters who were attracted to the sport in the first place but have been
relegated to the sidelines because they weren’t quite big or fast enough to
compete the way their coaches wanted them to when they were 9, 10 and 11 years
of ages.
By the age of 13 or thereabouts, they are gone from the
game.
The LTPD vision, while surely not perfect, at least aims to
create a different attitude to coaching at the early ages, and a more
thoughtful approach when it comes to how we develop young players.
Some kids are “stars” at the early ages, relying on being
bigger and faster than their less physically developed peers. However, they often flatten out later in
their “career” because they did not get the coaching required to help them work
on their actual skills. Instead, those coaches played a kick and chase
game that led to victories—but not better, more skilled young players.
At the same time, many players develop later, but by the
time they do, the “system” has essentially cast them aside when it comes to
consideration for provincial play, etc..
LTPD, hopefully, will change attitudes, and encourage
coaches to work to help all youngsters
develop their skills and stay in love with the game. This FIFA conference is another step in the
right direction.
