The following is a long, interesting article about player development in the USA. While the article does focus on girls, it can easily be related to the player development of boys too. Carolina FC’s Player Developmental Philosophy is not far off from a lot of what is discussed below, and we too are very familiar with a number of the issues and concerns these nationally recognized coaches highlight. Our hope is that together, players, parents and coaches, we will be able to provide the best developmental environment for all of our players!  JC

How We Develop Players: Dorrance, Tambi, others talk about key challenges in Girls, Women's Player Development by Robert Ziegler 7/17/06

In our series of articles about how we develop players in this country, we have tried to focus on themes common to both genders. Admittedly, most of our specific applications have been on the Boys side, so we wanted to touch on some items specific to the Girls/Women’s side of the game.

It’s true of course that World Cup and Olympic championships on the Girls side make for a different dynamic when talking about player development. The Women’s game in this country has been to the mountaintop while the Men have not, but a number of other countries on the Women’s side are clearly getting up to speed, so there is no shortage of competitive tension prompting us to self-examine and continually strive to improve.

Following are comments from a number of leading figures on the Girls side of the game, talking about its general state and a couple of specific issues; namely the priority of clubs in player development and the ongoing debate over styles of play on the Girls side.

Top coaches cite need for balance between competition and training

There’s no more famous figure in Women’s Soccer than University of North Carolina coach Anson Dorrance. While a number of programs have shown themselves to be able to compete with the program at Chapel Hill, there is still an ideal and a symbolism to that program which seems to never be far from the world of Girls soccer in this country as a whole. Dorrance’s comments about the state of the game here are noteworthy in several respects, not the least of which is his willingness to sound warnings about some of our more established trends.

For starters, Dorrance agrees that there tends to be an overemphasis on winning competitions at too early of an age, but notes that rectifying this is not so simple, as there needs to be a competitive aspect to provide an energy to player development.

“Too much thought about winning at a young age, that’s a legitimate concern, but it’s a difficult thing to get your arms around. You can’t really develop athletic excellence in a recreational arena. If you want to make players elite, they can’t have no concern for competition,” he said. “This area between winning and development becomes blurred naturally. It’s difficult to eliminate winning from that equation. If you look at recreational environments, kids are just running around having a good time.

“If you truly want to develop elite players you have to make some demands on them. If you want to have a technical evolution, the players will reform their technique under pressure from their opponent. Competitive pressure is what you want to apply – to separate the players, to see how well they can create under pressure. It’s the environment a coach has to apply to help the player become extraordinary at what he does.

“Now what people criticize (about the focus on winning in player development), is when a team just gets 3 or 4 towering players in back and coaches them to just whack it over the top to some speedster, and then you win with power and athleticism. That team may win when its younger, but then you get a youth team that doesn’t have technical development as a priority. People can exploit things that way, but in the long run they are only hurting those players.

“In the area somewhere between U12 and U14 is the emergence of competition. Somewhere in there, you’re not scarring anyone if you insist on playing to win. It’s important not to confuse the competitive element with the winning element. Having competition is an important motivational tool, because the players learn about not having as much time and not as much space, but still needing to do those things you need to do to compete. You can still emphasize technique as a critical part of the player’s evolution.

U16 Girls National Team coach Kazbek Tambi, who also directs a Girls club program in Northern New Jersey and is an assistant Men’s coach at Seton Hall, said it’s an important responsibility for coaches not to give in to the more immediate pressures of winning over development, as that prevents coaches from providing learning opportunities for players for fear of them making mistakes.

“The numbers of players and competitions have taken off, but winning has become a priority for many youth clubs, and this is inching lower and lower in age brackets in mentality. That’s become a negative thing,” Tambi said. “One thing that really works against is the importance of a coach not pigeonholing players into certain spots at a young age. In a real developmental environment, they should be thrown into different spots and then get to make decisions on the field according to various spots,” Tambi continued. “This gives them a total experience playing multiple positions. There’s too much emphasis on structure and tactical training where younger kids are learning ins and outs of positioning, as opposed to a situation where kids are competing in small-sided games. When they do that they are basically tackling loads of issues that, in the long run, are where creativity and tactical knowledge would come from.”

Penn State coach Paula Wilkins also warns against coaches trying to micromanage young players for the sake of match results.

“There are a lot of very good clubs out there, but a lot of what happens is driven toward winning games, tournaments and getting a college scholarship. Those 3 things can push parents and players in the wrong direction for development, and it’s a bit difficult to deal with,” Wilkins said. “I don’t think players spend enough time by themselves with the ball, because almost all the training is structured. In the old days we had to go out in the backyard. In games I remember having to solve things myself. The players don’t need someone telling them what to do with each kick of the ball, they need someone who can help them learn how to make decisions on the run.”

Carmel United director of coaching Russell Gee also has concerns about current emphases in player formation.

“We are not developing enough players with 1v1 ability. We are taking creativity out of the game. Our environment is to blame. Kids are becoming robots. They are being put into systems so they can win early rather than letting them be creative. I love to see an 8 or 9 year old who dribbles and beat 3 or 4 players and looks comfortable on ball. Some people call them ballhogs, I’m saying they’ve got great creativity. That’s a red flag to me, a danger area, because ultimately the game comes down to whether I beat you or you beat me 1v1.”

Dorrance said he believes player development on the Women’s side is improving, but notes some concerns.

“If you look at the progression of the Women’s game, we are getting better at developing players. The Biggest difference from 20 years ago to now is, while we certainly had elite players – I don’t think you can look at a Michelle Akers and not call her elite – but the difference between then and now is that we have a whole collection of superior players to select from.

“What I question is if we have more superstars being developed. My concern is we’re becoming very conservative in bringing the very young player on the full (National) team early. It seems like a lot of the best players on the college teams are Canadian. The thing they are doing there that we don’t do as readily, is bring in a young kid and invest in her, even if she’s not ready at that moment.

“One thing we did back in the late 80s, we made a conscious decision to invest in a group of young kids to the national team. Now at that time these players were not as good as some of the seniors we were cutting, and we got a lot of criticism. We had Mia Hamm come in when she was 15, Kristine Lilly at 16, Julie Foudy at 16, Joy Fawcett at 18 or 19 and it was the same with Carla Overbeck and Brandi Chastain. Now their names are legendary, but then we made a decision to invest and this spawned a collection of superstars that dominated the international game.

“In a lot of environments at the youth level, because of the politics the youth coaches have to deal with, they may wish to select a 14 year old player, but it’s not someone whose father happens to be on a board, or they make a rule that everyone has to play at their own age group. Instead of taking an extraordinary 13 year old and letting her play at U18 where she might not have as much impact but can hold her own, she has to play 13 or 14, so the player is sacrificed to youth level politics – and there are a lot of players like that around the country. That’s another example of winning at the cost of developing the elite player.

“During that span when we cut the vets and were playing kids, we weren’t winning. Went to Taiwan and finished 2nd (in a tournament). I remember joking with Mia that I hoped we will score goals with the next coach. I wasn’t fired but it was a miracle. They hung in there and while hindsight is 100 percent, I think it is a good object lesson.”

The priority of Club soccer in the developmental model

Tambi says the clubs carry a vital responsibility to help parents understand the priority of player development vs. simply winning.

“It’s a dilemma for the coaches also. We as coaches want to draw the players with potential, but it’s tougher to retain that if you’re not winning and the parents are ready to jump ship. They’re judging quality based on trophies, and the players who are being prepared the best don’t always end up being the first place trophy winners. Parents and some kids don’t always have long-term success in mind. A good training environment should provide for players to mix ages, younger and older.

“Ultimately if you can educate the masses of parents with regards to this issue, at the end of the day you can have a better retention of players in programs run by knowledgeable people, vs. parents just running to the winning team. It’s probably important for directors of clubs to speak and make this philosophy sink into their brains.

“It’s a great experience you are provided if: 1) the player is having fun, and 2) the player is improved. If both are happening, it’s a good program. , - if answer to both is yes – then it’s a good program.

Tom Anderson, president of top New Jersey club Players Development Academy, said facilitation of opportunity is a key duty for good clubs.

“On development we start young with 1v1 skills, making sure the players are able to juggle and dribble the ball. We play a lot of small-sided games and try not to pigeonhole girls too early saying they only play certain positions. We can’t worry about winning. We just want to get them out and let them play as much as possible. An 8-year old isn’t going to be excited about nothing but training.

“It’s still one of our goals to have a designated area at our facility where kids can just show up and play unsupervised. Clearly that’s the way to go – where kids can just choose up sides and play.”

Carmel United director of coaching Russell Gee said club programs need to be player-centric.

“Everything should center around the player. Whatever we do, the training environment, the competitive environment – needs to be appropriate to the player’s level,” he said. “The 2nd thing is having articulate, knowledgeable coaches who understand age levels and understand what that group should be able to achieve in the technical, tactical, physical and mental aspects of the game. The 3rd part then, is programming the training and level of competition they should play at. We have a curriculum that is basically the starting point of structure.

“We don’t inform coaches how to go about training – but ideas of what 9, 10 year old and beyond should be able to achieve. Building blocks at early stages are passing, receiving and dribbling – emphasis on 1v1, how to attack and how to defend. We also always have finishing. As they get older we start to employ a little more in tactical implications so by the time they are 13 and approaching full-sized games, they have a good technical foundation and hopefully are starting to understand the tactical sense of game. From U13 and up, we incorporate functional training, coming in from a specific position and work on an element of the game that suits that position.”

Gee said while winning at the earliest ages should mean nothing, there are very helpful things clubs can do to help players at that age develop.

“In our U6 through U8 program we have clinics, 1 in the spring and 2 in the winter. We like to work more closely with recreational programs in area, where we can help in the development of age groups with 3v3 and 4v4 models. We promote these. Hopefully we can develop a better culture for the game when they are ready for Travel. We have a demographic problem compared to Chicago and Atlanta or Dallas as we don’t have nearly as many kids playing. There also are too many clubs here that dilute the talent pool. That’s a challenge in other places too. People need to recognize that by bringing resources together, they can be thinking solely about kids and putting egos aside. That is in the best interest of everyone.”

Both Anderson and Gee emphasized how much a difference having proper facilities can make.

Does she have style?

Women’s National Team coach Greg Ryan finds one reason to be optimistic as the club culture continues to evolve in this country, is a growing emphasis on a skill-based style of play.

“In some areas, you’re seeing more and more clubs that really value developing the full game. There are several in Southern California I can think of and around the country who play more of a possession style and round out the game, balancing (athleticism) with penetration and possession,” Ryan said. “Certainly a priority of mine with the Women’s National Team is to encourage club coaches to do commit to the full development of players. There’s a natural process where if you see the Women’s National Team play a certain way, a lot of clubs will adopt that style. We’re trying our best to play the best style of soccer, creating chances through a variety of means rather than just kick-and-run type soccer.”

Tambi said the need for a more sophisticated style is simply one of keeping up with international realities.

“If you look at the period around 1999 (date of last World Cup win), whatever the style of play was working, maybe it was less technical and creative than what we’re starting to see around the world now,” Tambi said. “The reality is, the competition wasn’t as strong then. A lot of success came without the need for numerous creative players. But the best of the rest of the world has improved tremendously in the past few years. What was good enough then is not good enough today – we need not only players who are physically and technically gifted (as is always the case), but who are more soccer savvy. These things force us to move in that direction.

“No two coaches can say the same about what the beautiful game looks like but in general it means having players who are technically proficient, can keep the ball on the floor, keep the rhythm of play and show a quick speed of play,” he added. “Those are the common points of view –and we need that as a foundation of these kids. Then when we talk about the full national team, the exact style would depend on who is there and who you are playing. “

Dorrance thinks a hybrid or melded style is the most likely destination for an American team.

“In one sense we have no style of play, but I celebrate that. One reason is we have a tremendous amount of influences. There is a range of influences based on what part of the country you are in. Having all these different kinds of soccer in a genuine melting pot is incredible for us. What occurs for us then in the truly elite game is a combination of style of the direct and indirect game. There’s the soccer snob mentality of ‘I don’t play Route 1 soccer to the “If you just go from sideline to sideline you don’t score any goals. In the end – you need a balance. You have to have both.

“In this country you have passionate advocates for both. Someone who wants to excel will combine both – and that is the truly unstoppable soccer style.”

Closing Comments

Both Tambi and Dorrance said the future of quality player development will hinge on quality soccer people being in decision-making roles.

“The bottom line is there are not enough good coaches in this country,” Tambi said. “The other main difficulty is the parent issue, as when they are overly involved they can become detrimental to their children’s development. “