The Summer of 82

It’s been a sad week in the Latham household following the news of the unfortunate death of the great Socrates earlier this week. When I say the Latham household, I really mean Jake, our dog, and myself as I have been telling him this week on our walks about the greatest team I ever saw-Brazil’s 1982 World Cup team.

My first love is Sheffield Wednesday, I didn’t pick them: they picked me. My grandfathers were ‘Wednesday’ and so was my father so I became ‘Wednesday’. Those of you who follow real English football will be pleased to hear that I haven’t subjected my son Oliver to being ‘Wednesday’ I just couldn’t do it to him. They are my love supreme, but many times I have tried to leave them but as the Godfather puts it, “every time I think I am out they find a way to suck me in”. They are doing it right know as they are flirting with the top of League 1, it probably won’t last, but….

Anyway back to the summer of 82. Prior to this particular World Cup the high points of my football life were: a mammoth tussle between the love supreme and some kick and run mob called Arsenal in the 3^rd round of the FA Cup, when it was the best cup competition in the world. We took them to FOUR replays before they knocked us out.  They had Liam Brady, we had Brian Hornsby! An unbelievable night at Blackburn in 1980 when Ian Mellor brought 9,000 grown men and boys to tears, eyes filling now as I write this, with a diving header that set us on the road back to the promised land, and a historic 4-0 humping of our dearly beloved neighbours, Sheffield United, on Boxing Day 1979. Not a lot to show for 14 years.

That summer I was looking forward to the World Cup, every football man has a World Cup and this was going to be mine. It started slowly with Belgium beating Argentina and Italy boring the pants off the world but later that night my whole life changed. I didn’t see the full game as back in 1982 there were only 4 TV channels in the UK, but in the highlight reel of the Brazil Russia game, I saw two goals that set my world on fire. It wasn’t just the goals it was the pure joy and emotion of the event that took my breath away.  Socrates stepping around Russian’s and firing into the net was magnificent but Eder’s winner was a thing of beauty: Falcao lets the ball run through his legs, Eder flicks in up and volleys past the keeper whose body language tells it all. Do yourself a favour and get on you tube as word don’t do it justice. I was hooked and in love and I couldn’t wait for more. Scotland and New Zealand were brushed aside and Brazil was in the quarter finals. The team were magicians and beautiful to watch and the name still role of the tongue, Falcao, Leandro, Junior, Eder, some chap called Zico, Oscar, the great Socrates and the most un-Brazilian of players the striker Serginho, who may have struggled to get into the Sheffield Wednesday team!

They were drawn in a group with Italy, who had just woken up and the reigning world champions Argentina. Brazil destroyed Argentina and July 5^th I skipped out from a work experience placement to watch Brazil play Italy in the deciding game for a place in the semi finals. Italy needed a win and Brazil only a draw, but someone forgot to tell Brazil. In undoubtedly the World Cup’s greatest game Paolo Rossi was reborn and Italy beat Brazil 3-2 and broke my heart. In Brazil this game is still referred to as the “Sarrias Disaster”. Bill Shankly once said that football was more important than life and death, well its not, but I have no words for how I felt on that Monday night. 

Italy went through to face Poland and the other semi final pitted West Germany against France, a team that England had beaten in the opening round of the tournament. The Germany France game from 1982 is on par with the Brazil France game of 1986, if you saw it you remember exactly where you where during the game. Germany won on penalties and went on to face Italy who was rejuvenated by the goal scoring form of Paolo Rossi. Italy triumphed 3-1 and my lasting memory of the final was the pure ecstasy and tears of Marco Tardelli after he scored Italy’s second goal.

The 1982 World Cup was over, but I can still remember everything about my grandmother’s front room on the night I saw the Brazil Russia highlights, and I can remember the short cut I took to get home in time to see the Brazil Italy game and I remember exactly what I did after I saw Tardelli’s celebration which has its own entry on Wikipedia

In closing…

I was disappointed to see Colin Miller leave the Whitecaps, another Canadian coach out of the league. I hope it won’t be long before we see Colin back in the game at the highest level.

And finally, the last Lower Island Soccer Coaches meeting of 2011 takes place on Monday 12^th December at the Lakehill Soccer Associations Braefoot Turf field from 6pm to 7.30pm, our topic for the night is “Defending in 2v2 and 3v3 situations”. I hope to see as many of you there as possible and remember to bring your boots!

A cause for concern

As promised I have some results from my initial observations of some U9 6v6 soccer. I have shared some of the info with a few colleagues to get their input and on the whole they have been as surprised as I was at the findings.

To recap, I had been watching some games in this age group and I had some concerns over the general lack of movement and ball contacts for the average player. Anyone who has watched games at this age will have seen the familiar pattern of two or three strong players on each team playing against each other with a supporting cast who are involved to a lesser extent.

So far the sample that I have is still relatively small but the results are somewhat surprising. With the help of Stu Hackett I have analysed 5 games and 10 different teams which included 89 players. The games we watched took place on the same day and on the same field so we have some constants, field size, game time and playing conditions. The previous analysis I had was on different days and different fields and some of the formats were mixed so I decided to drop these numbers from my analysis.

As I previously mentioned I decided to divide a players total number of ball touches by the total number of minutes in the game for a couple of reasons; first of all I don’t have enough help yet to monitor the actual playing time of each player and secondly, the vast majority of 8 year olds don’t play soccer away from the organisation we provide and they certainly don’t play when they are off the field during a game: so what they get with us is basically all they get, but more of that later.

So to the numbers:

In the games that we analysed only 28 players averaged more that 1 touch of the ball per minute. The highest number of touches a player achieved during the day was 91, which equates to 1.82 touches per minute for the most active player! Now, back to the way we got our TPM number. This particular player played on a team that had 8 players active in the game. So, 6 players were always on the field and two of them were on the bench, so on this team its pretty safe to suggest that the most active player was on the field approximately 75% of the time, and it’s absolutely certain that he received more that 50% of the time available.

To keep the ‘sabremetricians’ happy even if we adjust the TPM number and be generous and double it, the most active player had less than 4 touches per minute during the game!

When I first saw this number I was shocked as I was expecting to see that the dominant players were all over the ball and I expected to see a smaller number of players getting very little exposure to the ball. Unfortunately that small group is much larger that I had expected.

We found that 26 players averaged less than .5 touches on the ball over the course of the game and that the remaining 35 players averaged between a .5 to .99 touches per minute on the ball during the game. So in conclusion 69% of the players that took part the games that we watched had less than 1 touch of the ball per minute.  

As coaches we are always looking for the late developer and we always tell the story of Michael Jordan being cut from his junior high basketball team as an example of what you can achieve if you stick with it. Well, if Jordan lived in Victoria and he played soccer he would most likely be in the group of players who are getting less that 1 TPM. How long would he stay with the game before he looked for another sport?

If our late developers are getting less that 1 touch a minute then how are they going to develop? No wonder that they are late developers!  I have always thought that we lose a whole group of potential national team players every year, before we even know they exist and now I am convinced of that. We put a lot of faith in small sided games and see them as a great development tool, less players on the field gives them more chance to see the ball, well maybe not!

However way you look at this the actual ball contact in the game is not sufficient to allow the players to develop their skills. I believe that every time they touch the ball there is the chance for a ‘teaching moment’, either correction or praise. The more teaching moments we can provide the better. If they aren’t getting the touches in the games then our practices are critical to the development of this next generation on Canadian soccer players. Another reason for mandating coach certification!

So what now?

When I set out to do this study, I wanted to see what was going on the small sided game. Along with the touches per minute we were able to find some other statistics that interested us. The number of touches in the games we watched ranged from 637 to 732 with 4 of the 5 games within 54 touches. The number of touches per team ranged from 280 to 425 with 6 teams within 63 touches.

Our next step is to look at some more games to see if our numbers hold up. This will also allow us to find the optimum number of touches in a game. Once we find that number we will investigate ways of increasing the active players TPM number by reducing the number of players on the field and increasing the amount of active time in the game. We will also take this opportunity to look at the amount of physical activity that players undertake during the game and see if there is a link between TPM and physical activity.

If this is something that you are interested in and want a few more figures, then drop me a line headcoach@lowerislandsoccer.com and I will email you a short summary.

In closing, the next Lower Island Soccer Coaches Association meeting will take place next Friday, the 18^th of November at Reynolds Park on Prestwood Drive from 6.15pm. Our topic will be ‘Defending in 1v1 and 2v2 situations’. I hope to see as many of you there as possible and remember to bring your boots!

Defining success in youth sports

Well, we have taken a few shots this past couple of weeks from some poorly informed journalists criticising the LTPD plan and suggesting that we don’t want the players to be competitive and that we wont keep scores etc….I am not going to waste my time or yours by raking the coals. This dialogue does open up a good debate, in my opinion, regarding how we measure success in youth sports. Keeping scores and league tables at the younger ages is no predictor of how a team or a group of players will fare in future. We have all seen the dominant U10 team, bigger and faster than everyone else slowly fall from grace as the rest of the players catch up in size and speed and their superior technique which they worked on instead of shelling the ball down the, field takes over.

So how do we know if we are having success with our younger teams? Before I go any further let me be clear on one thing; I think winning is important…but so is losing. Youth sport is so much more than the outcome of any game. Sport teaches life lessons that are invaluable to us as we mature. We learn how to win and much more importantly, we learn how to lose and how to deal with disappointment. No one gets everything they want all the time and learning to deal with a loss is maybe the greatest life lesson there is:  the harsh truth in life is that the vast majority of us have a few more losses than wins!

I have always believed that the goal of the coach of a U6 team is to get the players to come back the following year, and in turn the goal of the U7 coach is to get them to come back as U8 players and so on. Athletes aren’t developed over one year; it’s a long term project, with the emphasis being on the long term.

If we want to try to define success in youth sports we need to look at much more than results and performance.

Our short term goals and ones that we can aim for in every session are pretty straight forward.

Make it enjoyable and keep them active.

Get them engaged in the process and make them feel a part of their team, not yours.

Teach them a new move

If they leave your session with a smile on their face then the chances are you are succeeding with the players and there is a greater chance of them coming back for more. Our game doesn’t have a problem attracting new players but we do have issues when it comes to player retention.

Defining long term success is a little wider in its scope incorporating the short term measures and some ‘bigger picture’ elements.

Teach them fair play and a respect for their opponents, the rules of the game and the officials who enforce the rules

Encourage them to always give their best effort, let them know that their best is always good enough regardless of the result

Make sure that the players are given opportunities to take on leadership roles within the team

From a technical point of view as coaches these elements will lead to success for your players:

Create an environment that allows and encourages the players to make their own decisions on the field

 Expose them to the different roles and responsibilities of different positions on the field

 Keep them challenged and keep them learning, in my experience we lose players because they stop improving-they aren’t burned out, they are bored

 Make the training competitive, the competition will stimulate their development.

Success in youth sports is difficult to measure and so is identifying the future top class athletes, one thing is for sure; when young players leave our game then we don’t get a second chance. I have always believed that we lose a team full of top class athletes in both genders each year before they ever get the soccer bug. If this is the case then the key measureable for defining success in youth soccer has to be retention: are our players coming back and are they playing as adults and staying active for life which is a key element of Long Term Player Development.

In closing…in my next blog I will give you more information on the touches per minute (TPM) project that I started in October. I have had some interesting conversations with Gregor Young from Monday Morning Centreback and we are talking about some projects that we can take on to get some more information on the small sided games.

The next Lower Island Soccer Coaches Association meeting will take place on Friday 18^th November at Reynolds Park starting at 6.15pm. The topic for the session will be basic defending in 1v1 and 2v2 situations. I hope to see as many of you there as possible and remember to bring your boots

A numbers game....

Earlier this year I decided that I was going to take a look at soccer in the U8 to U10 age groups to see what was actually going on during the game. I decided that I would look at the number of touches each player had in the game because my instinct tells me that the format does not provide enough contact on the ball for the ‘average’ player. My bigger concern is that if they don’t get enough action around the ball then in time they become disengaged with the game and lose interest. You can always see the players who have lost interest; they are the ones who are not moving! If they aren’t moving then they are not getting enough physical activity and that tax credit you get for putting your kids into organised sport in order to keep them active is really only working for your taxes and not your child.

Back to the issue at hand: If you have watched any games in this age group you will know that every game is a little different. Some kids have to leave at half time to go to a party; some don’t get there until the second half because they had a party earlier in the day. Some games are 5-a side, some games are 6 a side, some players may even play a half for each team because they other team is short and it’s not uncommon for one team to play with 5 and the other team to play with 6, but who cares. At the end of the day its mini soccer and it’s not possible to get continuity between teams.

This does pose a problem though for someone who is looking for a consistent statistic across a number of different formats. After a great deal of thought I came to the conclusion that the only statistic that I should look for was the number of touches the players had divided by the number of minutes that the game was played over, therefore my new number is ‘touches per minute’ or TPM’s. Just what we need another acronym!

For the purposes of my research I will use the length of the entire game for each player, rather than the individual number of minutes played per player. My rationale here is that I am looking at the format of the game, game length and team sizes to see what effect they have on the TPM’s for the players.

I am more interested in the experience of the child during the full time frame of the game on that day than the format of the game.

So, after watching 4 teams play what have I found out. Well 4 teams is not enough for me to come out with a cast iron conclusion but what I can say is that the TPM number for the strongest players is considerably lower than I thought it would be. I plan on watching another 16 teams and after I have some number from approximately 20 teams I will get back to you with some results.

In the meantime my question is this. What is an adequate number of touches per minute in a game and more importantly what number should we be aiming for in our training sessions? Just before I moved to Canada in 2001, I attended an in-service training day with the other youth coaches at Sheffield United. I remember that one of the conversations that day was regarding touches on the ball and how many a player should have during a session. The manager of Fulham at the time, Jean Tigana, had been quoted as suggesting that young players should be having around 2000 to 2500 touches on the ball per day! This was a second hand quote and I have never found a source but this number has always stuck with me and from time to time I will ask someone to keep track of a players touches during one of my sessions. In a 90 minute session a target of 1000 touches is a good target to aim for and I have got close once or twice

The more I think about this, touches on the ball is the only way our players will improve and the more touches they get the better. Every time our players touch the ball there is an opportunity for them to excel, if their technique is incorrect it’s a teaching opportunity for the coach.

We can’t manipulate the big game to increase the TPM but we can tailor our training sessions to increase our player’s touches on the ball. Tigana’s target is high and possibly unrealistic in our environment, so what is a good TPM rate for a practice?

Over the next couple of months I will be looking at TPM’s in a number of different practices and I would also be interested in your opinions on this. If you have any thoughts to share contact me by email at headcoach@lowerislandsoccer.com

In closing, thanks to everyone who attended our last coaches meeting on September 29 and thanks again to the Lakehill Soccer Association for allowing us to use their fields

We have two Community Coach Youth Courses coming up in the Lower Island district, on October 22^nd and 23^rd Lakehill will be hosting a course and on November 6^th and 13^th the Juan De Fuca club will be hosting a course. Registration is on line via the BCSA website www.bcsoccer.net

Who replaces the irreplaceable?

In my last blog I asked the question, who will Manchester United look to replace Sir Alex Ferguson when he finally leaves the position on first team manager? In this blog I will give you some suggestions and my best bet.

If we take the examples of Leeds, Nottingham Forest, Liverpool and United themselves, we can see two trends: promote from within or look to an ex-player. Only Leeds United initially bucked the trend by appointing a high profile ‘outsider’ in Brian Clough. History tells us this was a huge failure as less that 7 weeks later Clough was out the door with a big pay off. Looking at the success Clough had later at Forest it could be argued that he was the right man but it was the wrong time, and as we all know everything in life is timing. After Clough Leeds turned to Jimmy Armfield another ‘outsider’ who kept them competitive and in the top ten, but when you have been at the top, then the top 10 isn’t good enough. Ask any Arsenal fan about that. Ultimately Leeds were falling off their perch and when they turned to a succession of ex players it was all over for them.

So, where does that leave Manchester United? In a tight spot if you ask me.

If they choose to follow the route of promoting from within, they currently have two choices. But before I look at those choices its worth taking a look at the careers of two of SAF’s previous assistants once they left United.

Brian Kidd, a Busby babe, was Alex Ferguson’s right hand man from 1991 to 1998 and at the time he was seen as a natural successor to SAF. Unfortunately, for Kidd, he left United to take charge of Blackburn in December of 98 and the following spring Rovers were relegated and before the December of that year he was out. Kidd has returned to being an assistant manager and now occupies a spot on the bench at Manchester City.

Steve McClaren was Ferguson’s assistant from 1999 to 2001. He left United to become the most successful manager in Middlesbrough’s history, but one good season in Holland and a number of disasters with England and Wolfsburg in Germany have blotted his copy book.  

Now the current insiders:

Mike Phelan, also an ex-player, in the assistant manager and Rene Meulensteen is the first team coach. Phelan is an interesting option as he would draw comparisons to Bob Paisley, Shankley's immediate successor at Anfield. Quiet and unassuming and as with Paisley an ex-player who didn’t fulfil his potential at the club. Phelan may stay with the club after Ferguson departs but I don’t see him as an option as a successor. A quiet unassuming ex player may have been able to step into the bright lights in 1974, but I don’t see Phelan being able to withstand the spotlight of managing Manchester United

Rene Meulensteen on the other hand may be a different story. In his second spell at the club Meulensteen is responsible for the high level of technical excellence we see from United every time they step on the field. Highly respected in the game, Ferguson has hired him twice, Meulensteen may be the man United are looking for. However, as with Phelan, the question remains will he be able to handle the pressure of being the top man at United.

When it comes to ex-players it’s hard to see the heir to the throne. When soccer players retired in the 60’s and 70’s and into the later 80’s they became coaches or bought a pub. Now they generally criticise others on TV or disappear into the sunset with a very large bank balance. Paul Ince, Brian Robson, Mark Hughes and Steve Bruce have and still are doing the rounds in England and you really don’t see any of them as the next Manchester United manager.

So if you are the Glazer’s and you are looking for the next boss of United experience tells you that you probably should look to an outsider to take on one of the biggest jobs in the game. At the moment in world football, there are 3 clubs that stand apart from the rest.  Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United in terms of current squads, brand power and fan base have separated themselves from the rest. One or two in-different seasons can change that and a year out of the Champion’s League can trigger a meltdown as we saw with Leeds United around 10 years ago. If United make the wrong choice and they slip then their neighbours Manchester City are in prime position to become England’s club champions and that will hurt.

For me there is only one person that United should be looking at to take over when Sir Alex Ferguson finally calls it a day. The ‘special one’ Jose Mourinho is the natural successor. A friend of Sir Alex, Mourinho may be the only person on the planet who thinks he can go in to the club and do a better job! He will command the respect of the players as he is a player’s manager and a master of taking the focus away from the team in order to protect his players. He will immediately endear himself to the fan base when he declares this job as the biggest and best job in the world, putting United on a pedestal above his former employers, Madrid, Barca and Chelsea.

As I mentioned before, the key to life is timing and if the timing is right I expect to see the phrase ‘Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho’ in the not too distant future.

In closing, the next Lower Island Soccer Coaches Association meeting will take place at the Lakehill Soccer Associations Braefoot fields on Friday 30^th September at 6.00pm.  The topic of our session will be ‘Using conditioned small sided games’.

There may be trouble ahead... Manchester United's big, BIG problem

Well Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson have done it again! Right in front of our eyes SAF has built another great team and we never saw it coming. Now they can rightfully challenge the Catalan machine for the title of world’s greatest team. Maybe or maybe not, the season is still only a few weeks old and a lot can change in a season. One thing that won’t change this year but will become a bigger issue as this season draws on is this: what will life be like for United after Fergie? United look as dominant as ever but very soon they will have to look for a successor to the throne and history tells us that finding an heir to the throne makes beating Barcelona look like a walk in the park.

Manchester United now and Manchester United in 1986, when Ferguson took over, only have two things in common. The have the same name and they still play in red. Only Brian Clough, with some help from Peter Taylor, Don Revie and Sir Matt Busby have singularly transformed a club like SAF. The transformation of Liverpool was a combination of Shankly and his boot room and he was followed by Paisley, Fagan and Dalglish who, on the face of it, carried on the work started by Shankly.

To see what may be in store for United we need to take a look at the precedent set by Busby’s Manchester United, Don Revie’s Leeds, Cloughie’s Forest and the revolution Shankly started and Dalglish finished after a 4-4 draw with Everton.

Sir Matt Busby built Manchester United. He managed the club from 1945 to 1969 and pioneered European club football against the wishes of the Football Association. His first great team perished in Munich in 1958 and 10 years later his second great team lifted the Holy Grail on a warm night in North London. Six seasons later Manchester United was relegated to the second division by the back heel of Denis Law who had starred for United in the 68 European Cup Final. Busby stepped aside and moved upstairs at the end of the 69 season and was replaced by ex player Wilf McGuinness who was 31 at the time. By the time McGuinness was fired in December of 1970 he had gone grey! Busby came back for a while but wasn’t able to halt the slide. Manchester United won some trophies through the 70’s and 80’s but they didn’t win the league again until 1993, a gap of 26 years.

When Don Revie joined Leeds United in 1961 they were a small parochial second tier club in the north of England. When he left in 1974 they were a juggernaut. Often maligned, but grudgingly respected, Revie had built a dynasty. Revie won the English domestic championship twice and 5 times his Leeds team were runners up. Very often his small squad would dominate the league and be fighting in all competitions to be thwarted at the death. But year after year they would be back. Revie, due his acrimonious time as England manager is often overlooked in discussions of great managers, but there can be no denying he is up there with Herbert Chapman, Brian Clough and Alf Ramsey as the greatest of English managers. Revie left Leeds in 74 to manage England. He was replaced by his nemesis Brian Clough, who lasted 44 days! If you haven’t read the book or seen the film “The Damned United” it’s worth a look. Clough was replaced by Jimmy Adamson who took Revie’s team to a European Cup Final in 1975. Leeds were beaten 2-0 by Bayern and seven season later, after a crop of ex-players had unsuccessfully tried to manage the club, Leeds United were in the second tier of English football. Leeds have recovered and won the title again in 1992 but terrible financial management sees them currently in the second tier.

Brian Clough took Nottingham Forest from the second division of English football to back to back European Cups in the space of 5 years, winning the English Championship along the way. Clough, assisted by Peter Taylor joined Nottingham Forest in 1975 and the club was in a similar situation to Leeds when Revie had joined them. Clough succeeded where Revie failed by winning the European cup in 1979 and 1980. Clough left Forest in 1993 and in his final season in charge Forest were relegated. In truth his best years were past him. An ex player Frank Clarke took over and initially Forest had some success but it didn’t last and in a familiar fashion are now to be found in the second tier of English football.

The only dynasty to be carried forward to this point has been the legacy of Bill Shankly, but even here nothing lasts forever. Shankly joined Liverpool in 1959 and by the time of his departure in 1974, Liverpool was a domestic powerhouse. His successor from within the club was Bill Paisley. The key difference here is that Paisley was promoted from within but, he was already a part of the managerial hierarchy. Under Paisley Liverpool conquered Europe and became the top club on that continent. When Paisley stepped aside Joe Fagan, again from within and part of the structure, continued the charge. Joe Fagan resigned as Liverpool manager after the Heysel disaster in 1985. Kenny Dalglish took the reins and continued the dominance in England, as a result of the Heysel disaster English clubs were banned from European competition. Dalglish built a great team and Liverpool was still kings of England, but they were about to be deposed by their arch enemy along the East Lancs Road, Ale Ferguson’s Manchester United. After a 4-4 draw with Everton in February of 1991, Dalglish resigned citing the stress of the Hillsborough disaster where 96 football fans were crushed to death. There can be no doubt hat the Hillsborough disaster took a toll on Dalglish, but cracks were appearing at Anfiled. An ex player Graeme Souness took over, but Souness had no experience in the Liverpool management structure and although Liverpool have had some success since their last title win in 1990, Liverpool are still waiting for their next English title some 20 plus years later.

So where does that leave the current Champions of England. The threat to United isn’t their “noisy neighbours” as SAF likes to call Manchester City, nor is it the current European Champions Barcelona. The biggest threat that United face is life after Sir Alex Ferguson. It doesn’t seem to be much of a story at the moment but believe me it will be soon.

In my next blog, I will give you my thoughts on who will replace the irreplaceable….

The Perfect 10

I recently listened to a BBC 5 special called “In Search of the Perfect 10”. The question raised was why English football hasn’t produced a number 10 in the shape of Maradona, Pele, Zidane or Dennis Bergkamp.

I guess the first question is what is the number 10? The first thing to point out is that the ‘number 10’ doesn’t necessarily need to wear the number 10 shirt. The number 10 is a specific role that to quote John Barnes “We (the English) don’t understand the number 10” and in my opinion he is right.

In short the number 10 is the playmaker; in Italy he is the trequarista, dictating the play in the attacking half, in Argentina he is the enganche, translated to ‘ hook’ and in Brazil he is the meia-de-ligacao. Whatever he is called and wherever he plays, he is the key to the attacking rhythm of the team: when in possession he dictates the pace and tempo of the game and as a fan when he has the ball your heart skips a beat. The perfect 10 is the reason we all fell in love with this game and no other game on the planet has this type of player. Rugby may get close, but it’s not the same.

In the past 40 years the English game has produced only a handful of number 10’s. The English generally see the number 10 as a luxury. It’s still a working class game in England and the number 10 is often accused of being lazy and soft because they don’t buzz around the field ‘putting a foot in’ or ‘doing a job’ two phrases from the English game that I hate. Anyone can put a foot in or do a job but it’s the gifted ones who dictate the play. Stan Bowles and Tony Currie are two examples of English number 10’s who never fulfilled their potential during the 1970’s. Both supremely gifted players who could turn the game on its head in a split second. Between them they earned 22 caps for England. Wikipedia tells me that this is one less cap than Carlton Palmer and Geoff Thomas managed between them. No disrespect to Palmer and Thomas but that stat probably says more about the state of English football over the past 40 years than anything else.  Glenn Hoddle and Paul Gascoigne are the two other numbers 10’s to come from England, both had bigger impacts on the game but both, particularly Gascoigne failed to reach their potential.  Both Hoddle and Gascoigne were supremely gifted and for a few weeks in 1990 Gascoigne may have been England one and only truly World Class player since Gordon Banks and Bobby Moore. Hoddle was always seen as a luxury in the England team and the failure of the English game to fully embrace, Bowles, Currie, Hoddle and Gascoigne has resulted in over 40 years of misery for the English football fan.

Thankfully, the number 10 is much more prevalent in the rest of the world. It’s much easier to name the players and let you paint the picture from the name rather than list the attributes of the perfect 10. Puskas, Di Stefano, Eusabio, Pele, Cruyff, Totti, Kaka, Dalglish, Zola, Zidane, Cantona, Maradona, Messi, Platini, Riqulemi the list can go on and on. All of the players above conduct the orchestra and I make no apologies for the repeated link between soccer and music. A great team is like an orchestra and the conductor is responsible for managing the performance of his musicians, just like the playmaker is responsible for getting the best from his team mates.

So, if we know what the perfect 10 looks like and we can see all his attributes how do we go about producing them. Unfortunately the short and simple answer is you can’t set about producing a top class playmaker.

As coaches we need to try to create conditions that encourage the players to express themselves. Playing games with an extra player on the team with the ball will encourage players to get on the ball: the play maker needs to be comfortable on the ball and make themselves available to receive the ball. Games with extra players create that environment.

Encourage players to receive the ball on the front foot so that they can look forward first instead of having to go back or sideways. There’s nothing wrong with going back or sideways but we must encourage our players to look towards the opponents goal, scoring goals is the reason for having the ball.

Work with the players on running with the ball and passing on the move. Far too often our players receive it and pass it without looking for other options. Encourage them to do something a little different from time to time.

Challenge them to play passes in between their opponent, this opens up defenders and often creates scoring opportunities and more importantly, make sure they are mobile after the pass to create an angle to receive the ball back. We want the best players on and around the ball as often as possible.

Play more games in games in practice and add conditions to challenge the players, stop them playing square passes and straight passes, this will encourage them to play ‘off line’  and make it hard for the oppositions defence to deal with the movement of the attacking players. If you see a straight pass or a square pass then the team is penalised with a free kick against them.

There are lots of things we can do as coaches to challenge our players to become more inventive, and you never know, the next Messi could be in our grasp and wearing a maple leaf in the near future!

In closing, the weekends Manchester demolition of North London says more about the state of the Londoners at the moment than the dominance of Manchester. The Mancs looked good, and maybe City looked better, but there is a long way to go. And for all the scousers getting excited Liverpool have yet to be tested so calm down and let’s see where they sit 12 games in. Dalglish has performed a miracle but in my opinion they are still 12-18 months away from the finished article.

At 6's and 7's

In my last blog I talked about 8-a-side soccer and how important I think it is to the development of players. In this blog I would like to talk about soccer at the U9 and U10 level.  Twelve months ago at Lower Island we decided to recommend that at these ages we play 6-a-side soccer as opposed to the 7-a-side version.  Does it really matter whether we have six on a team or seven on a team I hear you ask, does it really make a great deal of difference in the bigger picture?

To be fair, I felt that way until I took a closer look and compared the two formats in terms of numbers on the field, the shape of the team, the disconnection of players on the field and the bigger picture of mini soccer. After a closer look, I am of the opinion that the 6-a-side game is much better for the players than its 7-a-side cousin.

First of all, the numbers on the field: This is a pretty straightforward issue for me. Why have 14 on the field when you can easily have 12. Two less players on the field will increase the opportunities for players to get touches on the ball and getting around the ball is what it’s all about. At the same time if we keep the field the same size then we should increase the amount of physical activity that we provide to the players. This is of vital importance to our young children and a key component of Long Term Athlete Development. I don’t believe that we are doing enough to help keep our children healthy and removing two players from the space opens up more space for the children to run into. That’s a step in the right direction.

The next thing to address, which is related more to development of the player as opposed to physical activity, is the shape of the teams in the games I have seen. With 6 outfield players we often see the 2-2-2 formation in the 7-a-side game. Its mini soccer after all and we really don’t need the sophisticated deep lying striker or holding midfielder at these ages. Having said that, 2 in the back 2 up top and 2 in the middle automatically put players into boxes on the field with very little, if any, movement up and down the field by the players. The team is balanced, but balanced north-south and this bears no resemblance to the real game we are getting them ready for which needs balance east-west.  On top of that we have added a ‘third line’ to the team and in my opinion its way too early for that.

With 5 out field players in the six-a-aside version of the game we often see the hockey formation of 2 in the back and 3 up front. Because many of our coaches are more familiar with hockey this is the default formation in Canada. I have to confess that when I first moved to Canada I couldn’t understand why the two defenders were tied to the halfway line, until I first watched Hockey Night in Canada. Now if we make a slight change to this formation and have 3 in the back and 2 forwards we are on the right track. When it comes to the shape of the team and how to explain it to the players, I have to credit Prospect Lake TD Mark Bell with this great idea. It’s a smiling face. The two forwards are the eyes and the three defenders make the smile, with the central defender always behind the two wider defenders. The key now is to get the smiling face move together up and down the field! In terms of the big game the shape offers the concepts of width and depth to young players and the smiling face shape is easy for them to see on the field. If it’s easier for them then it will be easier for the coach to explain to the players. The simpler we make it for the players and coaches the better the experience will be.

The disconnection of players on the field is directly related to the number of players on the field. In every 7-a-side game I have seen there are players on the field who have no connection to the game that is going on around them. They don’t get near the ball and they tend to stay in one small area. No touches on the ball and no physical activity, and we wonder why our numbers drop and why we aren’t developing players! There is no fun in watching, the fun is in the playing. If it’s not fun they won’t come back.

Finally, in terms of the small sided game from U8 to U12, we play 4-a-side at U8 and 8-a-side at U12. The jump from 8-a-side to 11-a-side at U13 is a big jump and many players have difficulty with the addition of players and the bigger space. If the addition of 3 players is a big challenge from U12 to U13 then the similar addition of three players from 4-a-side to 7-a-side from U9 to U10 is surely too much to ask. If we graduate the addition of players through the age groups without big jumps then we make the game easier for the players to adapt to. Adding two players from 4-a-side to 6-a-side to 8-a-side is a more balanced approach than going from 4 to 7 to 8. If they come back after two years of 4-a-side then we have a chance to make them soccer players. Why complicate matters by adding three players to the mix when two will do nicely.

So, for me it’s the 6-a-side game that gets my vote, more space on the field, more touches on the ball and an easier game for the players to understand.

On a final note and related to the difficult move from 8-a-side to 11-a-side, when I worked in the UK we didn’t jump from 8 to 11 until after Christmas of the U13 year to give them a little more time to get used to the idea. Can you imagine the problems we would have here if we changed the format of the games program midway through a season!

8 a side soccer

If we say that the game is the best teacher, then in my opinion the 8 a side game in the best format to use to let the game teach the players.  During the spring we took a close look at the programs that we offered through Lower Island and embarked on a revitalisation plan. As part of that plan we produced a coaching syllabus for our BCSPL teams, but more importantly with the support of the University of Victoria’s School of Exercise Science we developed a document for the coaches within our district to use as an extra resource to help them with their teams.

As part of that document we offered up some different schemes to use when playing 8v8 soccer. Although this document is aimed at the coaches within our district the information is available to everyone via our website and here is a link to the document http://www.lowerislandsoccer.com/Coaches/CoachingTheCoachesLISA.pdf

In this blog I would like to go into more detail about my favourite scheme in 8v8 soccer which I used at Sheffield United as an academy coach before I moved to Canada: which was two in the back, four across the middle in a diamond and one player up top as a target, in layman’s terms 2-4-1.

The idea behind this particular formations is not to win games or to stop the other team playing, its set up to challenge the players and put them in situations in the game where they have to make decisions based on the situation in front of them. These ‘learning moments’ are few and far between in the game and I think this formation increases the learning moments and in turn helps develop the decision making of the players.

Two in the back constantly challenges the defenders. If we want to produce defenders then they need to be able to mark an opponent and be able to take responsibility for dealing with players in 1v1 situations. They must also be able to communicate with their defensive partner and know when to mark and when to release from their player to offer cover or support to their defensive partner. Winning games is not the driving factor so don’t worry about playing man for man , or even a man down, in the back at the younger ages.  In time your defenders will become better as they are faced with multiple learning moments. They will make mistakes along the way but that is how they learn. Two in the back will also challenge the keeper and give them opportunities to use their feet if they are encourage to play as defender when you have the ball.

Across the middle the four players offer width and depth in a diamond formation. The holding player links the defenders to the team and should be encouraged to drop into deeper positions to help out the two defenders when needed. In time they will figure out that its better to start a little deeper and move forward as opposed to starting higher up the field and having to run back and help out. The two wide players should be encouraged to move up and down the field and keep the diamond shape as often as possible.  They will encounter numerous learning moments, do they stay wide or come inside, should they take their opponent on or look for a pass. All key decisions that they need to start to make on their own.

The player at the top of the diamond is the linking player to the lone striker. They should be encouraged to offer support to the wide players when they are in possession and to get close to the striker when the ball is played forward. Four across the middle also introduces the players to playing in a group and working together. The chances are they will play in a four, whether in the back or in the midfield as they get older so why not introduce them to it as early as possible.

Up top, our lone striker must learn to play with their back to the opponent and look to play with a supporting player. Decisions for this player are many; can I get turned, can I go forward and create a scoring opportunity, should I connect with a supporting player. Multiple learning moments that will be difficult to replicate in a practice session.

In youth soccer the game should act as an extension of the week’s practices sessions, and far too often the game becomes the biggest factor during the week. The 8v8 format gives us an element of control that is lost as players move to the 11 a side game. The field is smaller so the players are, in theory less fatigued, and the smaller field can be more forgiving of individual errors as in the smaller space the players are closer together. The smaller space also encourages the player’s to pass the ball rather than just kick it away as there is less space to kick it into.

The key to the big game, 11v11, is controlling the space, make it big when you have the ball and make it small when they have it. You control the space through the shape and movement of your team. My experience has been that this formation provides more learning moments as it is challenging for the defenders and the single attacking player. It encourages the midfielders to drop down and help the defenders out and it demands that they move forward to support the striker. 

Once your players have a basic understanding of the shape you want them to make on the field then you can start enjoying watching them play and learn.

Remember, the important thing is challenging your players and putting them in situations where they have to make a decision.  Our players need to learn how to play the game and to read the game.

I hope that makes some sense.

To finish, the next Lower Island Soccer Coaches Association meeting will take place at the Lakehill Soccer Associations facility at Braefoot Park on Friday 26^th August from 6pm. Our guest presenter will be Matt Fisher from the Pacific Sports Institute for Sports Excellence. The session will cover warm and injury prevention techniques and I hope to see as many of you there as possible. As always don’t forget to bring your boots….

Mandating coach certification.....

When we wanted to teach our son Oliver to swim, we decided to take him along to our local recreation centre where a certified swimming instructor taught him to swim.  I can swim and so can my wife but we decided that it was best to let someone who has a little more knowledge in swimming instruction take the lead. I don’t think he is ever going to be the next Michael Phelps but we want him to enjoy swimming and I believe if you do something well you will do it more often.

Oliver also wanted to learn Kung Fu, now he will never be Bruce Lee and neither will his father, so it was a no brainer to sign him up for Kung Fu lessons from a certified martial arts instructor.

When we first moved to Canada our daughter Hope wanted to try gymnastics so we sent her along to the gymnastics centre in Kelowna where she was instructed by certified coaches.

Do you see where I am going with this… if it’s an acceptable practice in swimming, gymnastics and Kung Fu, then why is it not the same for soccer. Both Hope and Oliver have been involved in recreational soccer, and neither of them will ever play for Canada but their level of interest in soccer was the same as it was for the other activities.

Now, I have never coached my own children, soccer is my job and I have not had the time to be involved with their teams. Our experience with recreational soccer is no different to any other family in Canada; we rely on the luck of the draw when it comes to coaching.

Hope has been very lucky and has had some great coaches. Their technical knowledge has been of the standard expected and nothing more, but the experience has been a positive one because of how the information has been communicated to her. The coaches that she has played for have been great role models for her and I am sure at she will play soccer into her adult life. Oliver on the other hand has not been so lucky. His coaches ‘knowledge’ of the game has been no less than Hope’s coaches, the problem has been in the delivery. The outcome of this is that Oliver is still not sure about soccer as a sport that he is interested in and a as a sport we may lose a player. Maybe it’s not the end of the world for soccer and it certainly isn’t for Oliver, as a proud parent I hope he is destined for great things; it just won’t be in soccer.

Although it’s not the end of the world, its is a problem for me as I know that there are many similar stories in families across Canada

So what to do? For me it’s a simple answer to a simple question. Our number one priority has to be coach certification and, more importantly, continued coach education so that we can retain the good ones and work with the keeners who need help and support.

Coach education does many things;

It shows that the coach is interested in improving their skills

It shows that the club is committed to providing their players with a qualified instructor

It shows prospective new players and parents that the sport is serious about development

It provides opportunities for dialogue between coaches

It raises the bar, and in time will improve the level of play

It helps coach retention

It gives a club a measure of credibility

All of these are positives that our game needs right now. The impact of mandatory certification won’t be seen overnight and in the short term we may lose some coaches but in time it will become an acceptable part of the process, just like getting a criminal records check.

In my last blog I mentioned the thought of mandatory certification and I received more feedback on that topic than anything else. I agree that you don’t become a better coach just be attending courses, however it is a step in the process. The vast majority of clubs pay for their coaches to be certified so why wouldn’t you take a course.

In the Lower Island district we have certified over 350 coaches over the last three years which is just over  half of the 600 coaches in our area. I would like to think that we can have a fully certified district by 2015 but that is only half the battle. The real challenge is to then get a coach to stay involved after the first year and come back and take another course!

Having said all that there is still a nagging problem that exists.  It’s not just about the information that a coach provides, it’s the way that it is delivered that is the key. I once heard someone say, and I wish it was me as it is a great little phrase “people don’t care what you know, until they know you care” and it is so true.  Communicating our message to the players, and in turn, their parents must improve. For the vast majority of our players soccer is a recreational activity just as it is for my children.

Our challenge is to turn it from a recreational activity into a passion and we do that player by player, family by family and coach by coach. How many potential national team players do we lose each year before we ever get a chance to really work with them?  That thought is something that should keep us all up at night. Mandating coach certification increases our chances of providing a better experience for the players and in turn keeping them involved in the game for a longer period of time.

On a final note its soccer camp season and the great game of sharks and minnows has undergone a radical change on Mayne Island: it’s now called Deatheaters and Wizards, thanks to JK Rowling!

A Hard Rain is Gonna Fall.......

Bob Dylan once sang ‘A hard rains a-gonna fall’ and he was right. June was a long month of hard rain for Soccer in Canada with our teams crashing out of the Gold Cup, U17 Men’s World Cup and Women’s World Cup all at the group stages. The difference between winning and losing at that level is narrow, a goal against Rwanda and a bounce or two against Panama and we would have had two of our teams in the last 8 of both tournaments, but although the difference is narrow we may as well have missed by a million miles as we judge top level sport on results not performance.

Now we have lost who can we blame? Fans and millionaire chairmen across the world always look for scapegoats when there team doesn’t get the results they need or want. Coaches are fired and programs are ripped up for the promise of something new. We very rarely fire soccer coaches in Canada, which may be a blessing is disguise this time around. Coaches and their players don’t plan and prepare their teams to lose, they spend every waking minute of every day with the players thinking and re-thinking their plans and looking for any extra edge. At the end of the day, it’s up to the players on the pitch to decide the outcome of the game and as I have mentioned before our lack of success this past month comes back to our lack of technique, rather than our lack of effort or spirit. Before I go on, let me be clear: I’m not saying our players lack technique; I am saying that our technical ability is not at the level of our opponents. I believe we are going in the right direction, just not as quickly as we would like.

We struggle to keep the ball when we are pressured and we don’t have the cutting edge to create enough chances in a game. Our teams are organised and, in my opinion, regularly punch above their weight, but when the margins are so tight it is technical ability that wins the day. Technical excellence shouldn’t be our goal; our target should be technical perfection!

We can all look at the situation and try to apportion blame as there are plenty of targets, coaches, players, CSA, provinces, districts, clubs, lack of money, too many games, not enough games, the list is endless. However playing the blame game won’t help or change things in the short term or the long term.

As coaches and administrators we need to start asking ourselves a simple question. How can I make this situation better? I would like to say that I have all the answers, but I don’t. Having said that I do know where we won’t find the answers, not in board meetings, or conference calls, or executive meetings and certainly not on internet forums. The answer is to be found on the field working with players and teaching them correct technique and in time teaching them the finer points of our game.

The answer in short, is that we ALL need to do a better job with the players we work with.

I dislike the use of the word ’mandatory’ however I see no other way forward for us. Its time to make coach certification, and more importantly, continued education a mandatory requirement across the country. In order to do this we will of course need a grace period to allow clubs and coaches to comply but in a short space of time, say 2 years, we need to educate and support our coaches. When we show up at practice we ask our players to improve, why shouldn’t we ask that of our coaches?

I like to think that Lower Island Soccer Association is a supporter of coach certification and continued education, and over the past three years we have received tremendous support from Rob Csabai at BC Soccer. He has worked with us on changing the way we deliver the courses so that we are able make them ‘more user friendly’ and we have been able to certify a good number of coaches over the past few years. However there are still too many coaches out there without any level of certification at all coaching our players.  Coach certification doesn’t make you a soccer genius overnight, but it does show that you are committed to self improvement and are willing to spend some time to improve your skill set. A good coach has a combination of certification, experience and good communication skills. Getting certified is the easiest part so why the reluctance?

Mandatory coach education won’t be an easy sell but nothing easy is usually worth anything anyway.

In closing, thanks to everyone who attended the Lower Island Soccer Coaches Association meeting last week at Lakehill Soccer associations Braefoot field and special thank to Dominic Butcher who gave us an interesting insight to fundamental movement skills. Our next meeting will be in August

…going back to Bob Dylan, I am not a big fan of cover versions but if you have time check out Bryan Ferry’s version of my blog title.

Have a great summer.

How the MLS can change soccer in Canada...

I was working in the US when the MLS was born. I remember watching the first All Star game, in 1996, from a regional Olympic Development Camp and I clearly remember thinking that this league might change everything. Ten years later I was at the MLS Cup final in Dallas with 22,000 other people in a soccer specific stadium and everything had changed.  I was fortunate enough to see the first MLS game in Vancouver, this time my thought was that this league could change everything for us here in Canada, but will we have to wait 10 years to see change, and more importantly: what is the change that MLS has brought to soccer in North America.

Prior to the MLS American players had to leave the country to play at a decent level, Mike Sorber for instance currently one of Bob Bradley’s assistants played in Mexico from 94 to 96 before coming back to the US. The US World Cup 94 squad was littered with players playing all over the world, on the playing side things don’t seem to have changed too much as the 2010 US Squad only had 4 players playing in MLS.

The real change in the soccer landscape in the US has been in the coaching department. Take a look at the US National coaching staff:

Bob Bradley coached in the MLS, Mike Sorber played in the MLS, Jesse Marsch played in the MLS and Lubos Kubik also played in the MLS. Interestingly enough Kubik managed Torquay United but was fired after 2 wins in 15 games! Recently fired U20 Coach Thomas Rongen coached in the MLS and current U18 coach Mike Matkovich also coached in the MLS. Major League Soccer has become the breeding ground for American coaches. Since the league started in 1996 only three non US nationals have won the coach of the year award, Rongen in 96, our own Frank Yallop in 2001 and Steve Nichol in 2002, all the other winners have been home grown American coaches. Does anyone doubt that Real salt Lake’s Jason Kreis will join that list?

I had the pleasure of working with Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis and their GM and VP Garth Lagerway for a very brief period of time in 1994. I would doubt that they have much memory of me, but I remember them very clearly as two young guys who were even then, professional in their approach to the game. Both are first class guys, and products of the American new soccer culture. The MLS has provided them with an opportunity to follow their trade and they are working at the top of the game. 

What about Canadian Coaches?

There have only been two Canadian Coaches in MLS history, Frank Yallop and Nick Dasovic are the only two Canadians to have coached in a league that is almost 17 years old. That is the same number of coaches that Vancouver has had in half a season and a third of the coaches Toronto FC has had in their short time in the league. The Canadian versions of Kreis and Lagerway are certainly out there but will there be opportunities for them to play and ultimately coach in a domestic league? I am hoping that in time we will see more Canadian’s on the coaching staff of the soon to be three Canadian MLS franchises.

Frank Yallop has proven to be a great success in the MLS and in my opinion Nick Dasovic was never given an even chance in Toronto, the ownership was far to busy planning the Dutch revolution to seriously consider Dasovic. In order for our game to continue to grow we need to produce home grown coaches and these coaches need a place to coach.

I bumped into Victor Montagliani a few weeks ago and we talked a little about the current CSA moratorium on Canadian franchises applying to join US leagues. At first glance I along with many others couldn’t understand the thought behind this, but I think the CSA wants to check on quality control before it rubber stamps any new ‘clubs’. This makes perfect sense to me now, because at this point in time the last thing we need is new clubs appearing and disappearing because they don’t have a sustainable model.  I have seen far too many of these clubs try to run before they can walk and disappear without a trace during a season, and this reflect poorly on the whole soccer community. Maybe the CSA should look at imposing the same Canadian content rules in clubs as Canadian radio stations do! If that produced the footballing equivalent of The Arcade Fire, we would all be happy.

Now, back to the MLS, it’s not going to happen overnight, but Canadian content both on the field and in the dug out has to be the best chance we have of getting back to a World Cup.  It must be very difficult for the National program to find any continuity between training camps and games as the squad is so spread out. We have recently seen a number of International teams base their operations in Europe as the vast majority of their players are over there and they have the finances to travel at will. At the moment we seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place as we have some players playing in Europe and some of them here in the MLS, and we all know that the CSA isn’t rolling in cash.  A long term solution could be getting our players back here playing in a North American league for Canadian coaches in front of Canadian fans. Here’s hoping it doesn’t take 10 years!

Just a quick reminder, the next Lower Island Soccer Coaches Association meeting is on Friday 24^th June at 6pm at the Braefoot turf field in Victoria. The session will focus on basic dribbling and turning skills and our guest coach will be Dominic Butcher who will be introducing us to some basic movement skills.

Thanks to Lakehill Soccer association for the use of the field and as always remember to bring your boots!

It’s technique stupid…

Bill Clinton won the 1992 US Presidential election for a number of reasons, but a key turning point in the campaign was the Democrats phrase “It’s the economy stupid”. Once they woke the American public up to the fact that economy wasn’t that great the rest, as they say, is history. I have just spent the best part of three months conducting evaluations, I have been doing them that long that the other day I managed to select an over 35 men’s team from the line up at Tim Horton’s in Esquimalt! After 10 weeks of assessments I have an answer to the question, what do you look for in a player…Its technique stupid! I am using the work stupid for effect, so please don’t take offence.

Identifying speed and size is easy, but speed and size don’t guarantee anything. We have all seen the big donkey up front who couldn’t hit a barn door and the flying machine out wide that can’t cross a ball. The key ingredient and missing factor in so many players is lack of technique.  If a player has poor technique they will never reach their full potential. 

We all witnessed a technical master class from Barcelona in the Champions League final against a pretty good Manchester United team and I am hopeful that the one thing we will all take away from the Barcelona experience is that commitment to technical perfection.

Since the final there have been numerous articles that tell us we must copy Barcelona, this isn’t uncommon in soccer. We all want to imitate Brazil and try to play like the Dutch. The issue with trying to copy Barcelona is this, it’s not a style of play it’s a culture. Players in La Masia are schooled in the Barcelona culture, doing the things the right way and with style. As I previously stated, I don’t think you can copy a culture, but you can copy traits of that culture.

When I watch Barcelona play three things are always apparent in their play.

First of all, technical ability of the highest order across the team, they do the simple things perfectly and therefore always have time on the ball regardless of the pressure applied by their opponent.

Secondly, an amazing work ethic and commitment to winning the ball back as soon as possible. It’s not uncommon to see Messi chase the ball across the opponents back four at high speed for 40 metres. The oppositions have no safe space to play into and no area of the field to build in because of this pressure.

Finally: a commitment to team over the individual.  Billy Bremner, of Leeds and Scotland, was famously quoted as saying “Team before self every time”. There are many other great things this team does but they are truly a team and this is linked to the work ethic. If a player sees the greatest of his generation, Messi, or Iniesta or Xavi, working overtime to win the ball back then he will be inspired to follow the example. Carlos Tevez and Wayne Rooney possess similar qualities to Messi but lack his technical ability, Christiano Ronaldo matches Messi in technical ability, in my opinion but he couldn’t play for Barcelona as his ego would not allow him to become part of the collective.

Can we take these three traits, technical excellence, hard work and team work, from the Barcelona culture and apply them to youth soccer in Canada?

There is no reason why not, we just need to raise the bar and educate our players in the art of teamwork and hard work. I am not a big hockey fan, but I know a group of players committed to a cause when I see one. I would like to see the Canucks with the Stanley Cup because it’s clear that they are a group of players that have a deep understanding of what it means to be on a team and the commitment it takes to be the very best. If they manage to win the Cup than we have a great example to show our players that team sport is more about the group than it is the individual, sadly this seems to be something that is lacking in other team sports at the moment.

Barcelona and the Canucks, if successful, are great examples for our players to follow, both are highly skilled team filled with great players who play an exciting brand of their sport. More importantly they are great role models, which as a parent of a young son is a key part of my admiration for both teams.

Now, back to technique, the next Lower Island Soccer Coaches Association meeting will take place on Friday 24^th June at Braefoot Turf field month, the topic will be dribbling and basic turns. Our special guest will be Dominic Butcher who will talk about Fundamental Movement Skills, thanks to Lakehill Soccer Association for the use of their field.

I hope to see as many of you as possible and don’t forget to bring your boots.

Is our product good enough?

Over the last two months I have been watching a lot of games in the U8 and U10 age groups. When I was 8 years old I played for the not-so-world famous Grimesthorpe Boys Club in the Sheffield and Hallamshire U12 division. I had to play U12 because in 1975 that was the start of organised football in the area I grew up in. We didn’t win a game for a season and a half and probably didn’t keep the score under 10 goals against in our first season, our first two games were 24-0 and 20-0 defeats but we didn’t care. The oldest players on our team were 9 and we played together as a team in the U12 division for 3 seasons, no one got hurt and our fragile ego’s certainly got toughened up. Our parents never complained about the coaches because luckily for them, the parents that is they didn’t see too many of our games! We really were that bad. When we played away we went in the boy’s club van and sang songs all the way there and back regardless of the result.

 Sheffield in 1975 is a totally different animal to British Columbia in 2011, bring our team forward in a time machine and most of us would have quit after 3 games because we weren’t winning or being developed! The parents would have hunted our coaches down and replaced them with someone who knew what he was doing as how could they possibly be doing a good job if we were getting humped every week! In 1975 we had no other sports that we could play, none of us had play stations or Wii’s, we felt very lucky to be involved in organised sports and be on a team that had our own shirts that we didn’t have to wash ourselves. We paid 10p a week subs, which is less than 20 cents, and we enjoyed the games and the feeling of being on a team, however if we would have had some different options I am sure that most of us would have looked at them at some point. But the point is we didn’t have any other choices when it came to playing organised sports so we stuck with it.

This brings me back to the situation today: After watching some U8 and U10 games I have come to the realisation that our product, the game, is not as good as it could be. This is certainly not the fault of the volunteer coaches who are doing their best to keep the children active, its not the fault of the clubs or districts who are also doing their best to keep the teams playing and on the field and its not the fault of our governing bodies who are doing all they can to keep the game ticking over.

The fault, or blame, or whatever word you want to use to describe the deficiencies in our game, is, in my opinion…the game itself. Most games in these age groups revolve around two or three players on each team. They dominate the majority of the play and the other players are on the edge of the game and only get a kick of the ball when it comes near them. At this age the two things our players need from the game are, touches on the ball and exercise to keep them active. For two or three of them we are providing this, but for the rest of the players on the teams I think we are falling short. If they don’t get touches on the ball then they won’t improve as soccer players, if they don’t get the exercise or activity they need then the result of that can be much more serious. With a multitude of different sporting and activity options available to young children and families today it’s no surprise that we lose players from our sport as they don’t have to stick it out.

As I am watching these games I constantly ask myself, is our product good enough and if not how do we improve it so that we can retain more players.  We aren’t developing future pro’s in these age groups, we are trying to keep them active and get them to choose soccer as their primary sport and as a  life long sport, as in stage 7 of “Wellness To World Cup”. Once we lose a player to another sport they are pretty much gone for good, how many top class athletes do we lose every season because some other option proved to be a better one for them? Can we afford to keep losing these players to our rival sports?

The down side to having an opinion is that you have to be prepared for it to be wrong. Well, next season at Lower Island we will be monitoring a number of games in the U8 and U10 age groups in the hope that I am wrong. We will look at the number of times each player kicks the ball during a game and we will also be asking our customers, the players and their parents, what they like about the game and what they think would make it better, after all in the service industry the customer is always right!

When our research is completed we will share that information with other clubs and districts. If ,as I suspect, we find that the players are not seeing enough of the ball in the game or getting enough activity we will look at trialling some changes to our games program on the Island so that we can improve the product and keep more players playing.

Is it worth wasting all that time in the kid’s games on something we can introduce in the space of one week when they are a little older?

As promised, my Champions League prediction: Barcelona, but if it goes to penalties then I go for United as they have the best research on penalties in the game. Read Soccernomics if you get the chance as there is a great piece in the book on the penalty shoot out between United and Chelsea in Moscow in 2008