Youth sports has lost it’s way, early specialization, fear of missing out, burnout at young ages from a must win culture, and a lack of commitment to chase short term rewards.

Developing the human is so important, coaching the person and not just the football.

We are incredibly grateful to have a great human in Max Allen

This Christmas, Max Allen asked his family friends to donate to the club, rather than receive a Christmas present. Specifically to help support the Financial Aid program that helps us provide the youth soccer experience to any player/family, no matter their financial situation.

Max has been with us since he was 5, both his Mam and Dad were volunteers in the U6 program, and he has been with us ever since both parents very supportive of the program, and his Dad a team manager.

Thank you Max, you are a credit to your family.

In the first session of Day 3, Aaron Negel, CEO of the Colorado Rapids Youth Soccer Club presented on building a successful operating system within youth organizations. The first question he asked was “Why?”, why are we here, why is this club here, what is the club’s purpose”, this led to the development of club values, beliefs, behaviors, attitudes that the club would adapt and that they would be committed to moving forward, this means every decision moving forward reflect at least 3 out of the 4 values and beliefs of the club. Aaron discusses how important it is for a youth organization to have a clear identity, purpose, belief and the people in the right positions to make it happen. As they move forward, the Rapids main motto is “Develop remarkable coaches”, they believe that investing in their coaches will make for better players, a better program and more importantly an organization that is constantly evolving and improving as they are always pursuing to improve in every regard.

Session 2, a field session working on modern attacking and defending trends in youth soccer, Paul Payne worked on shaping the team in those two phases of the game. Paul emphasized that field players must have

• A clear understanding of the positional responsibility within the team dynamic. Communication channels between coach and player must be open and democratic.
• Good understanding of roles and responsibilities in relation to other units.
• Good understanding of specific roles and responsibilities within pair-partnerships (RB and RW).

Session 3, Molly Grisham worked on team building. Molly was quick to establish that team bonding, team building and team development are all different but also simultaneously very relevant in each other’s success.

Team Bonding can be short lived, as they are surface interactions where players find similarities within activities which can be perceived as a positive interaction within the team dynamic. Team building can have a significant impact but also comes with considerably more risk, as players will have to get to the root of issues and consequently requires very careful and deliberate planning from the coach or organizers. Team development is Molly’s bread and butter, which dives past issues, to find leaders within the team, find specific players that fill specific roles and how those players can fill other roles that they are interested in or the team needs them to fill.

Day 2 of the 2023 United Soccer Coaches Convention was kicked off with an on-field training session, put on by Eintracht Frankfurt coaches Armin Kraaz and Nicolai Adam. The session topic was on Pressing & Counter Pressing. The main take away from the session was how the coaches allowed the players to have input and empowerment within the session. For example, instead of telling players what position they should play when looking to add a player within the activity, the coaches asked players what position they would like to play. Another takeaway from this session was the emphasis on the 5 “W’s” (Who, What, When, Where, Why).

The day’s 2nd on-field session came with the Football Association of Ireland. James Scott’s session topic was Reality Based Training. Immediately we recognized the training activity (passing & receiving), as this was the same exact session from our Fremont Youth Soccer Club’s training curriculum. Focus during the session was on spacial awareness, and close control of the ball.

The 3rd on-field session was presented by Schellas Hyndman, formally with MLS side FC Dallas for 6 years and 31 years as a Division 1 college coach. The session was on Modern Attacking Trends and took a dive into some of the technical requirements for the modern player. The session also had a focus on awareness and scanning, which are two key elements of the modern game. “See far, look short.” – Schellas Hyndman.

The amount of detail the coaches had in all 3 sessions was immense. The Coaches, made sure to really emphasis the “Why”, and “Where” for each scenario that was taking place in, by referring to the 11v11 game.

The 2023 USC convention was kicked off with a fantastic session with renowned sports psychologist Dan Abrahams who worked on integrating sports psychology into daily coaching practices. Dan challenges coaches to ask themselves “who they are as a coach”. Memory, imagination and perception were key to gaining perspective

In session 2, Jeremy Gunn delivered a presentation on creating a high performance environment, emphasizing the need for clear direction, consistency, high demands and high levels of commitment as crucial components of high achievement. Growth was a key word that he used, stating that growth is about “trying to improve”, not the result of winning but the journey and process of improving.

We were also privileged to see 3 field sessions that worked on attacking in the final third, multiple avenues to use the warm-up/activation phase more efficiently and lastly, a detailed session on counter pressing.

Hello everyone,

We now return to resume the 2022/23 season.

We have a player centric, proactive curriculum which ensures the players will cover all the necessary mechanics, skill work, and give players a chance to be decision makers and creative players. Through the long-term development from U8 to U19, the players will pass through different stages and priorities. Everything we do is supported by theory in youth sports development, and we apply those theories to a working model to make sure the players receive the most up to date coaching methods from research.

• Here is a link so you can see what goes on in the structure of the curriculum – https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vdRtIP_Xpd2aaUbJfRfZNE28x9yoRhM1U_U-uFE8CxY/edit?usp=sharing
• The presentation provides the theory as to why we do certain things – Constructivist Theory of Learning

This is a difficult task. Not only do we need to be brave to embrace new methods, but also to step away from the youth sports culture which is not serving the best interests of the kids. That certainly opens us up, as it is certainly different, and the long-term approach requires significantly more patience, and a greater understanding from coaches. Our philosophy is that we are all learning, players and parents, and also the coaches, as all good coaches must be lifelong learners.

Some key points from the presentation attached:

• Learning is a change in the persons behavior’s – that means by joy-sticking and telling the player what to do, they do not learn, but respond, this takes away a key part of the learning process, ‘why’.
• Learning is age appropriate – players will learn chronologically, i.e., from simple to complex, however, the rate of learning is not dependent on age. Therefore, we should not be judging or comparing players against each other, we are all biologically different, some will be early developers, while others late, and there is no problem with this, we are all on the same path. Youth sports is an individual journey.
• Learning is messy! – Mistakes will be made, and repeated, and it will not always look like we think it should. Coaches always want the perfect looking practice, but if it looks like this then it clearly isn’t challenging, it should be full of learning moments, i.e., mistakes and challenges. Parents want the games to look like professional athletes, if it looks like the adults there is something wrong, it should be messy and chaotic. If it looks like the adults, then either opposition isn’t appropriate, or the players are not learning but being told what to do, rather than given direction with the ‘why’, so they can make their own decisions, resulting in long term deeper learning.

There is a lot more to take from the presentation, please take the time to read through. As always, we would rather hear your thoughts, and ask us questions about anything you are unsure of, we are here to support the youth soccer parent, just like we are the players. If we don’t speak up or ask questions, we prevent ourselves from learning.

Enjoy the season and looking forward to seeing you all on the field.

Barghav has been with Fremont YSC since he was 8 years old, joining the 2007 Boys age group. Barghav started with the 07B ID I team that began playing competitive soccer at the bronze level and has progressed with the team to the State Premier Bracket, now U16’s.

Barghav has been selected to the Cal North Olympic Development Program upon recommendation by the Fremont YSC Coaching Staff. The Olympic Development Program is a national process for identifying and developing the best youth soccer players. The process promotes players to the U.S. National Teams, which represent the United States in international competition, such as the Youth World Cup and the Olympics. Cal North ODP is dedicated to developing the highest level of youth soccer in an atmosphere of integrity, fairness and impartiality. The player’s physical and cognitive skills and attitude are the only criteria for the program.

As his creativity, work ethic, desire and character are some of his major strengths, Barghav’s leadership qualities and genuine passion for the game drives his interest to keep improving and make all the players around him better as well. Barghav is a great example of the long-term player development pathway we have here at Fremont YSC, being able to play all positions on the field with comfort, high level of technical ability, and demonstration of game intelligence. While clearly an excellent soccer player, more importantly he is a great example of a good human being.

We wish Barghav the best of luck with the ODP program as he enters the national selection process in January of 2023.