This Monday is Presidents Day, therefore no practice due to the observed holiday.

Learn more about President’s Day at the following link – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington’s_Birthday

One of the biggest challenges for parents and coaches it trying to see the game from a child perspective and understanding how sports are different from business and technology.

To start with, sports are always influenced by and have big impacts on business’s, politics, and more recently technology, but this is at the senior level largely. Youth sports is a multi-billion-dollar industry, and that has had its effects on the youth sport.

To take it deeper in to the day to day world of youth sports, we look at how the adults view the world. The world is now largely technological and continues to advance through algorithms and systems.

Taken from a Jonathan Wilson article from the Guardian… Justin Smith, author of Irrationality, discusses the baleful effects of the modern urge to quantify everything. Algorithms and systems, he notes, make life safer and more efficient but there is a cost. Once somebody becomes a set of data, they become a commodity. “This financialization is complete…”

It’s understandable how parents and coaches can then struggle to remove themselves from this modern world and work place model and watching their kids playing sports. We see winning as the simplest form of an algorithm of a player must be good if their team wins, or even a good team. However, we forget to look at the human, and the individual. Or, when we do look at the individual, we try to understand their performance by statistics.

“The tech companies’ transformation of individuals into data sets,” Smith says, “has effectively moneyballed the entirety of human social reality.” That is a trend that extends beyond managers, to scouts, agents, journalists and fans, many of whose interactions with football will have been conditioned by Football Manager or FIFA, in which players are literally bundles of statistics.

When looking at the individual it’s important to break it down as follows when concerned with player development –

• Technical – is the player comfortable on the ball, and willing to compete in a 1v1 situation. Dribbling has become a lost art.
• Sociological – does the player interact well with other players, coaches, and show respect to referees.
• Psychological – is the player open and unafraid of making mistakes, but willing to try new skills on the field.

All these point towards a developing player in the correct environment, irrelevant of scorelines and statistics. Youth players need the human approach to understanding the pathway they are on.

We have a huge belief in education, there are so many moving parts to a youth players development and experience, that it is so important for coaches and parents to keep educating themselves so players get the best experience – https://www.fremontyouthsoccer.com/interesting-articles/

Coach Education

Already in the 2018/19 season, our Fremont staff have been participating in courses from a number of sources –

• Football Association Wales, UEFA
• La Liga Methodology, US Club Soccer
• United Soccer Coaches
• United States Soccer Federation

This gives Fremont YSC the best possible opportunity for continuing to provide players with the needed environment for them to continue to improve but also love to play the sport.

The same theme continues when attending these courses and as a staff discuss our experiences. It is still a problem with parents placing so much emphasis on winning games in youth soccer and the playing bracket. Players need to be in an environment where they can be nurtured for their individual level. A club where coaches are educated and put the player first above any other factor, with an understanding of all the developmental pillars (technical/tactical, psychological, physiological, and sociological factors).

We are still awarding players for their chronological age with their league titles and tournament trophies, and still we insist on having 2 games or more in 1 weekend. More consideration for the individual needs to be made, and patience with those players who are late developers, whether by biological age or sports age.

Congratulations to all the coaches who have continued with their education, and we are always happy to speak with anyone about our experiences and education.

Please use our website as a resource to help with your education in youth sports.

Happy Holidays to everyone, we are now on our short winter break, and we wish everyone a fantastic festive season.

Now is a great time to relax, recharge, and we’ll see everyone back on the field in the New Year. You can still reach the staff, but we will be spending time with our families, so will get back to you when we get the chance.

Safe travels if heading out of town, and have lots of fun.

Fremont Youth Soccer Club Partners with Positive Coaching Alliance to Benefit Youth Athletes

12/4/2018, Fremont, CA – Fremont Youth Soccer Club has established a partnership with Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA), a national non-profit developing “Better Athletes, Better People” by working to provide all youth and high school athletes a positive, character-building sports experience.

The partnership provides Fremont Youth Soccer Club access to PCA’s training for coaches, sports parents, student-athletes and administrators, comprising live group workshops, online courses, books by PCA Founder Jim Thompson and additional online resources, such as e-mailed follow-up tips and reminders.

PCA has partnered with roughly 3,500 youth sports organizations, schools, districts, conferences, and park-and-rec departments to create a Development Zone^TM culture, where the goal is using youth and high school sports to develop Better Athletes, Better People, Thompson said. “We look forward to working with Fremont Youth Soccer Club to create the best possible experience for the youth athletes. Our research-based materials combine the latest in sports psychology, education and practical advice from top pro and college coaches and athletes that help improve athletic performance while also ensuring kids take life lessons from sports that will help them throughout the rest of their lives.”

Dai Redwood, Executive Director of Fremont Youth Soccer Club said. “Fremont YSC has for many years been a player centric program, focusing on the true development of a player in an environment where players can be creative, problem solvers, and good human beings through life experiences in youth sports. Our philosophy is that education is for all, including not only it’s players but also the parents and coaches. An official partnership with PCA gives us a great opportunity to provide workshops and continued education for everyone at the club.”

The workshops are scheduled to take place throughout 2019 for parents, players, and the coaches.

About Positive Coaching Alliance

Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) develops BETTER ATHLETES, BETTER PEOPLE through resources for youth and high school sports coaches, parents, administrators and student-athletes. In addition to more than 1,800 free multimedia tips and tools at www.PCADevZone.org, PCA has partnered with roughly 3,500 schools and youth sports organizations nationwide to deliver more than 20,000 live group workshops, along with online courses and books by PCA Founder Jim Thompson that help those involved in youth and high school sports create a positive, character-building youth sports culture.

PCA resources, which have reached more than 8.6 million youth, strive to transform high school and youth sports into a Development Zone^® culture, where the goal is to develop Better Athletes, Better People and the following become the prevailing models in youth and high school sports:

• The Double-Goal Coach^®, who strives to win while also pursuing the more important goal of teaching life lessons through sports
• The Second-Goal Parent^®, who concentrates on life lessons, while letting coaches and athletes focus on competing
• The Triple-Impact Competitor^®, who strives to impact sport on three levels by improving oneself, teammates and the game as a whole.

PCA gains support from a National Advisory Board, including National Spokesperson and 11-time NBA Champion Coach Phil Jackson, and many other top coaches, athletes, organization leaders and academics who share PCA’s mission.

For more information about Fremont Youth Soccer Club, please visit www.fremontyouthsoccer.com

A proactive approach to development will focus on the individual and providing them with the tools they need to become the best player they can be. However, coaching can only do so much for a player, and the highest level players have the intrinsic motivation, and individual drive to do more outside of their practice. Street soccer, fun individual games, and free play outside of structured practices can bring out the best in players.

Arriving 10 to 15 minutes before the start of practice and working on your juggling, or rebounding a ball off a wall will do wonders for your first touch and distribution, and the cumulative time of quality practice with the ball will help with the player furthering their ball mastery.

Practice Away from the Field

For a player to reach the highest level it comes down to firstly enjoying what they are doing, the player must enjoy and embrace the process. This comes from being able to play in a stress free environment. Yes, there must be challenges and targets, but with correct feedback to encourage a player to continue. A player must also be disciplined enough to practice on their own away from the field, accruing hours of deliberate practice, and getting as many touches on the ball as possible.

The Conklin’s (02 Boys), can be found at fields around Fremont, staying after practice, and whether rain or poor air quality, will always find a way to practice.

Key practices you can do on your own by being creative with what you have available.

When developing the player it is important that we focus on the individual when we look at their progress. Too often we are quick to compare to others in all areas of life, as adults and kids. This brings about the ‘keeping up with the Jones’s’, and ‘fear of missing out’.

We never know the full background of anyone or any team we play against within league play, and this includes the ages of the players such as sports age, biological age, and chronological age.

We also focus heavily on individual development, and with this true development and winning cannot co-exist in the youth game, especially at the younger ages. Coaching creative players through their development stages involved allowing the players to problem solve and make their own decisions, play with high risk in going in to 1v1 attacking and defending situations, and playing in multiple positions.

If as a parent you are not sure on how your child is doing, take focus away from game results and look for how your child is doing with comparing. Are they happy to be in possession of the ball, are they willing to try skills in a game, do they make decisions without looking towards the coach or parent.

We do not have any practice tonight.

With it being Halloween the club will be taking the night off so kids can go to their Halloween events and trick or treat.

Have an enjoyable evening.

We are a few months in to the season, and for many teams a few days away from a tournament weekend.

While it is a tournament, we are still focused on the development of the individual player, and do not allow the thought of a medal or trophy derail us from the individuals longer term player development.

Not a bad way to complete your hat trick!

All the way through a players development we are encouraging players to be creative, take risks, and try skills and tricks on the field. Through the earlier stages of development, players in the 02 age group were trying bicycle kicks, and still to this day at U17 are not afraid to try.

While this was performed in a recent tournament, our very first attempt at goal after promoting up to the Premier bracket, was a bicycle kick. Keep allowing the kids to be creative and take risks.