The following is taken from an article from a program I like to follow, ‘Changing the Game Project’. An excellent organization trying to combat the toxic nature of youth sports and provide education and engagement to coaches and parents. Firstly, please see a selection of the article below, and then the following thoughts –

I kept thinking to myself how wrong it is that we have created a system that scares players into compliance with abusive coaches, who hold so much power to determine whether they will play at the next level. And who are scared and accept abusive and demeaning behavior from coaches because of this fear. And what about the parents, much like the culture of gymnastic parents, who continued to register their children for the abusive coaching and gladly paid for it? Why do we live in a world where we think making people feel worse about themselves will make them play better? Why do we risk our children’s physical, emotional and mental well being in pursuit of a college scholarship or on field performance? When will we say “ENOUGH!”

I do not blame the children, as many of them are so young they cannot possibly know better especially when they witness adults that they trust turning a blind eye. And I completely understand the fear many parents feel that if they speak up, their child can lose a coveted place on the team. I even hear from parents who stand up, blow the whistle on such behavior and get sued for their effort. Coaches lose their job when they stand up to abusive behavior or report on colleagues or board members who are engaging in sketchy behavior, but win a lot and place players in college programs.. Do you not find it ironic that in our race to take away childhood by adultifying youth sports, we neglect to act like adults when our children need us most? 

I truly hope the Yates report is a turning point, but somehow I doubt it. This occurs in every sport, boys and girls, and the incentives still favor abusive, win at all costs coaching. But at some point we need to finally say enough is enough, I am pulling my child, to hell with the consequences. So I will get off my pedestal now, but I am interested in your thoughts. Why do we tolerate this type of coaching behavior, and what can we do to change it?

• Behaviours in coaching is something I am passionate about, and is something lacking in coach education, modern coaching focuses more on this, moving away from the old methods of shouting and scorning. However, this is still so common in coaching, as we continue with the thought process of, ‘it’s what we did growing up’, ‘it didn’t hurt me’, ‘it will teach kids to be stronger, tougher’. All of this has been debunked by scientific research, and because it’s what we used to do, it doesn’t make it right, we now have the research to back this.
• The winning culture, so dominant in US sports is adultifying the youth experience. Cutting players at 8-9 years old. Making kids run if they lose games. Shouting at kids while the ‘play’, because they can’t do something. If you refused kids into schools because of a grade, made them write lines for making a mistake, and stood over them shouting while they were in maths class, you would call this crazy and abusive, but in youth sports… somehow accepted.
• There is too much adult ego in youth sports. The coach that tells you they can take your child to a college scholarship, how only being on their team will make your child an elite player, how they play in ‘x’ league, ‘x’ bracket, and have won so many tournaments. These ego’s should not exist in coaches, it’s the kids game, we are meant to be here for the kids.
• Parent ego stems from the coaches behavior and environment created. The importance as parents we place on a childs sporting success and how it affects the perception others might have on us as parents. The ‘cooler’ talk at work, the hoodie worn at school pick up, it’s not healthy for the parents nor the players.

We need to give youth sports back to the kids, and even more than ever before as we return from lockdowns which have had an effect on kids development, and also to stop the spiral of a toxic culture that’s taking away the youth sports experience for the kids.

For more resources and information, visit – https://changingthegameproject.com/

We are excited to announce the partnership between TopTekkers and Fremont YSC.

TopTekkers is the mobile app that supports individual practice at home. The app is available to all players in the 2014 to 2011 age group (Foundation Phase) at no extra charge, as part of your membership. The app supports the individual player elements in the foundation phase, and provides direction for individual training away from the field. All players will have different levels of ambition, and those wanting to progress and push their ceiling as high as it can go, need to train outside of structured practice.

We feel this is an important application, and extension to your membership in the foundation phase, a few reasons being:

• Lack of play culture outside of organized sports. This will encourage young athletes to get outside and off the electronics.
• Competition and challenge amongst teammates will support a healthy environment of competition.
• Too much attention to tournaments and brackets, not enough on the individuals progress, this provides focus to what is important at the younger ages.
• Practice videos, and session selection will achieve a greater number of touches on the ball.
• Accountability for players, they now have the tools to do more if they have ambitions of further improving.

See what you can expect from the TopTekkers app:

• TopTekkers app walk-through: https://youtu.be/piMG37U0LTU
• Skill Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiR2Ol0NCv4

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Arunay Foundation Walkathon, your support is greatly appreciated.

This as always was incredibly difficult for the 2008 Boys, the team Arunay was playing on. We can’t praise this group highly enough, they are of huge credit to their parents. It has been a very difficult time for the boys, and those throughout the club who knew Arunay. The demonstration of support and unity is very heart warming, and we are proud of the boys for attending, and to all those who also attended and took part in the walkathon.

The Arunay Foundation is doing great things for beach safety, with a dedication to improving safety at the beach through education and greater information available on conditions, and improving equipment than can be readily available to support a rescue. Please visit their website for insight into the projects being undertaken, to sign up as a volunteer, or to leave a donation – https://www.arunayfoundation.org/

Day 5 Review – Ava, Nyan, Rohan

Tottenham Hotspurs FC Stadium Tour

The first half of the day was spent at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in London. We toured the enormous stadium which had many cool features. For example, the pitch could be transformed into an American football field, there was a Skywalk where you could walk on the roof, a bungee jumping area, the stadium actually had trophies that Tottenham won, and many more fantastic areas. The tour was amazing; We had tiny tablets that told us what we were looking at and it had pre-recorded messages from the players. We saw the trophies they’ve won, sat where fans, VIP’s, players, and even where Antonio Conte (Tottenham Hotspur Head Coach) is supposed to sit. We went into the away team’s dressing room which was filled with various other team’s jerseys. In Tottenham’s changing room, we got to take pictures with the teams actual kits! There was even a changing room for NFL teams, which held the NFL jerseys & helmets of all the teams that have played at the stadium since it’s first NFL game in 2019. We saw where players and coaches do their post match interviews and some of us even got a picture with Antonio Conte edited in! To wrap up the tour, we went to the gift shop which we learned was the world’s largest retail store in a stadium. It was a great experience and unlike their actual team, the billion dollar stadium left us impressed.

Now we are on our way to see West Ham United vs Manchester City at the London Olympic Stadium, Go Irons!

We exited the coach and entered the stadium. The London Olympic stadium was a lot bigger than Selhurst park, and seated nearly double the amount of people. The game started off well for West Ham, but Man City dominated the rest of the game, giving West Ham a living nightmare. When West Ham fans cheered, the atmosphere was a lot louder than that of Crystal Palace’s. However, the stadium was unfortunately quiet from West Ham fans due to the lack of possession of the ball. The game ended as a 2-0 loss for the Irons, with Haaland scoring both. Despite lots of Man City passing around West Ham, the game was a good watch. We enjoyed our second premier league game and we can’t wait to see what this trip offers next!

Day 4 Review – Phoebe, Kobe, Rhium, and Zayden

Starting off day 4, some of us continued to explore new breakfast options that aren’t popular in America, such as Marmite on toast. Afterwards, we boarded the coach and departed for central London. Our tour director Andy kept us entertained with a game of fact or fiction, which included some cool facts such as “the nose of the north facing lion in Trafalgar square is the exact center of London” as well as some disturbing ones like “there are more rats in London than there are people in the US”. While heading to the Underground Churchill War Rooms, our tour group got the opportunity to pass by or glimpse lots of war monuments and significant buildings such as Buckingham Palace, Parliament buildings, and the clock tower housing Big Ben. The popularity and importance of this spot was made evident by the sidewalks crowded with visitors and numerous cameras monitoring the entire area.

We visited Winston Churchill’s war rooms. As we walked in we saw a video about the war rooms. We also saw many rooms such as the kitchen, the map room, the bedrooms, offices, etc. The rooms were very small and claustrophobic, especially the kitchen. The people living there during World War 2 had many jobs like cooking, contacting, and writing. The Churchill museum where they hold all the original furniture and papers of World War 2. As we went in the museum there was whole spot for Winston Churchill . He led his country through  one of the darkest hours in its history, he was a great leader. Collectively, we saw war rooms, maps, and sleeping quarters. The war rooms has a café and gift shop where you can buy souvenirs and eat food. The war rooms were a great experience as we got to see how Winston Churchill and many others survived in World War 2.

After the war rooms Rhium and Zayden mentioned, we continued our tour of central London to the London tower. We entered the old castle which was used to store the queens jewels while simultaneously holding tortured prisoners. The jewels varied from silverware to weapons but each one of them were laced with unimaginable amounts of stones. Overall our day was filled with exploring central London’s century old architecture and monuments which greatly contrasts from Fremont’s modern city.

4

A huge congratulations to Troy Holcomb, making the Gallaudet University Soccer team as a Freshman.

Troy has been with Fremont YSC from the very beginning, playing in what is now known as Mini-Megs when only 3 years old. Playing with the 2004 age group, Troy represented Fremont YSC all the way through until graduating from Mission San Jose. Troy displayed incredible dedication and commitment to his soccer throughout such a long playing career at the youth level. Troy’s parents, Michele and Tom were incredibly supportive of Troy, getting him to multiple practices a week, and driving all over the Bay Area and beyond on weekends.

We are incredibly proud of Troy, and a perfect example of the individual dedication that it takes at the youth level, and not the hype and glamour of playing leagues and tournaments.

We wish Troy all the best for his college playing career, but even more importantly his very bright future.

Each day a review was written by a group of the traveling players, and they will share their insights and thoughts. Todays events included a training session with a local club, St Matthews. What was incredibly important and grounding about the experience was the role the club played in the community.

Friday was a free day to play, with anyone from the community invited to play, and usually over 100 kids take up the opportunity. What is so vitally important is the reason… it’s not to recruit, or market, or monopolize on fields; the purpose is to attract young kids to play football so they can then feed them. Knowing the kids come from a lower income background, the club was being part of the community in providing food when it could, and through football, as this is the passion of so many. They didn’t care for the latest acronym league, or traveling excessive hours for a game; they cared about the community and how they could support it.

Day 3 Review – Ava, Rohan, and Nyan

We started off the day with some English breakfast options (sausage, beans & toast, tomato & mushrooms, pastries, cold cuts, and more) at the hotel before heading off to training.

Today we got to train with St. Matthews Football Club, their coaches led warm-up with a team decision-making game that allowed us to get to know their players. Next, we jumped into a “dribble through the gates” game with two teams and got to see the ball handling skills of St. Matthews FC. Lastly, we played full field matches with three teams on rotation until time ran out. The difference between soccer/football culture in the UK vs. USA was extremely apparent during today’s training. St. Mathews FC also gifted us one of their jerseys to take home, which will find it’s new home in the office once we return, and is very much appreciated! Overall, it was a great training session and fantastic experience; we can’t wait for our next training session!

Next up, we headed back to the hotel to clean up and grab lunch at The Globe!

A Players Account of Crystal Palace vs Arsenal

We left to watch the premier league match between Crystal Palace and Arsenal at Selhurst Park, London. The stadium was about an hour drive from the hotel. The atmosphere was quite amazing, and much different than a regular MLS game. There was a wide variety of chants that were shouted left and right, and overall was a joy to be apart of. The fans were extremely  loyal and anticipated every chance crystal palace got with passion. The game ended in a defeat for the eagles, 2-0. Overall, the experience was great and was an honor to be a part of crystal palace’s amazing fan-base. We look forward to attending more premier league games in the future.

Fremont YSC took to Europe once again, traveling through the UK as part of a cultural experience.

The purpose of the trip is largely for the youth players, and families, to experience another culture, and specifically one with a strong football culture. While the language may be similar (we use ‘u’ a lot more), the day to day experience is different, and sense of community also a lot different and attached in most places to it’s football club.

If you missed the trip, it’s work watching ‘Welcome to Wrexham’, it’s hard to explain it better than they do.

The football culture is significantly different, and players traveling will witness this from the moment they land. They will experience what it means to play football and why it is so important to the community at every level, from professional to grassroots. While football is the main purpose, players also experience the historical differences, and day to day cultural differences. The trip also supports the players independence. When many will be leaving for college in the coming years, but are yet to have experienced being away from home, and therefore never experienced the need to be open to different ways, and so as adolescents they are responsible for their own time keeping, responsibilities, and accountability; incredibly valuable life skills to be learning.

The upcoming series of reviews will invite you into the experience of the trip.

Day 1 and Day 2

Day 1 is the traveling day, the long-haul flight from San Francisco to London, with a little stop in Canada along the way. While flying throughout the night, many were able to get some sleep, while others made the most of the extensive collection of movies they were able to watch.

So as we blend straight into Day 2, it’s a meeting with our tour director, Andy Macmillan; a very jolly Scotsman, a large personality and incredibly welcoming person. We board the bus to drop off our belongings at the hotel, just a quick stop and change, and straight to training.

It is common for teams in the UK to train in what are know as ‘cages’. These are small fields surrounded by boards where the ball never leaves play. The most fun a player will have due to the speed and needed technical ability to play in such area, and you can imagine how physically taxing with so many short sprints and never ending play. With consideration of the long travel, training was a light passing pattern with extended stretching time, followed by some shooting, and finally a small sided game. Enough volume and intensity to get the body moving, lengthening the muscles from the long flight, and preparation for the week… along with keeping us awake!

The day ended with our first Premier League game experience. The first game of the season, Crystal Palace vs Arsenal, a London derby to kick-off the season. The atmosphere was bold and intense, sitting amongst the home fans, and close to home crowd supporters area behind the one goal, but close enough to hear the Arsenal fans in the opposite corner respond to the chants and cheers. For many it was the first live game, and not a bad one to start with.

The crowds pre-game filling the residential streets around Selhurst Park, and the tiny turnstile gates to squeeze through to enter the concourse, was the perfect welcome to football. Fans wearing their team colors, large groups seeing each other for the first time since last season, and the return of the half time pie!

While score resulted in a home loss, with Arsenal winning 2-0, it was an experience to see how committed the fans were in supporting their team. While dampened by loss, this did not prevent them form fully supporting their team until the very end. Unless experiencing it for yourself, it’s hard to explain how much the teams mean to their communities, with history of the clubs going back over 100 years.

A great start to the trip, with plenty more football and community experiences to come in the days we’d stay in London.

Summer 2022 provided an opportunity for Club Directors Travis Cabral and Dai Redwood, to travel and experience a new footballing culture first hand. While the culture was new to both, Argentina has an incredible footballing history, with arguably the top two players in the history of football coming from the country.

While the traveling allows for great insight into the operations of the academies, a lot of first team information is shared, along with the depth of education being provided by the Argentinian Football Association.

The following presentation is a write up from the Directors on their observations of an academy session: Club Atletico Belgrano

For greater detail on the trip as a whole, see the following links from the NorCal Premier write up.

1. https://norcalpremier.com/argentina-coaching-education-trip-part-1/
2. https://norcalpremier.com/argentina-coaching-education-trip-part-2/
3. https://norcalpremier.com/argentina-coaching-education-trip-part-3/
4. https://norcalpremier.com/argentina-coaching-education-trip-part-4/

Congratulations to Amira and Ariana Patel.

Amira and Arianna have been with the club since they were 6 years old, joining the Fremont YSC Under-8 Recreational program and then progressing through to the competitive program.

The girls have been selected to the NorCal Player Development Program through being recommended by the Fremont YSC Coaching Staff. The PDP program aims to identify motivated, talented players in assistance with NorCal member clubs to offer a training program to supplement the club’s player development process. PDP looks to showcase and promote players to US Soccer’s National Teams and Training Centers, Professional Clubs, id2 and College Soccer Programs.

Along with being the creative, hard working, talented individuals they are, Amira and Arianna are also a great example of hard work and a genuine passion for the game that drives their interest to always keep improving. Amira and Arianna exemplify the long term development plan we have at Fremont YSC to optimize player development while prioritizing the individual player development and their love for the game.