The Soccer Sidelines

I've spent the last two years and 90 episodes talking about the stuff that really matter in youth sports and hoping to help you understand and appreciate the game and better support your player(s). Now it's your turn to connect here: https://thesoccersidelines.com/connect/Your challenge is to use any of the connect options and tell me a story about your life! Tell me about your athlete, your team, your club, or your own youth sports experience! If you can't think of anything to say about someone else, tell me which is your favorite from the last 90 episodes and why. I can't wait to hear and read your story and get to know more about you! PLEASE: support the show and/or join our community as a Patron through my Patreon pageResources* Connect via Patreon* Connect via Speakpipe* Connect via Twitter* Connect Via Facebook* Connect via Email

It's Easy to Support this ShowYou would not dream of suiting up and taking on the New York Giants by yourself. I don't care if you're the biggest and strongest dude on the planet. You're going to die. Literally. I have found in my lifetime of working in corporate America and in business that the same is true off the field as it is on the field. No employee or CEO is going to survive long in business without a team. The stronger the team, the better chance the individuals on that team have of winning. Strength of a team comes from places few people know to look. If you've never considered where to look for team strength, you may be surprised by some of the things I'm going to say today. For experienced coaches and business people, get ready to smile. In this episode, I hope to shine a light on a few things that most people don't consider important. However, those in the know understand that without this, your chances for success go down a lot. Join me for a few minutes as we talk about the whole team and why you're important - no matter how popular or well known your contribution is. You're ImportantAs a listener and maybe as a Patron of this show, you're important. It doesn't matter if you have a background in soccer or not. What matters is your desire to contribute and your willingness to be part of a team that is working together to bring value to the community. I've had some interesting discussions this week. In one case, a fellow by the name of Richard reached out to me via email and text. He's a long-time, 30+ year coach and former President of the Club I am currently President of. He's coached at high schools, at colleges. He's run our club for a couple of years, and he carries a lifetime of wisdom and passion for players and the game that is refreshing for me to experience. I think anyone who has invested real time and energy into developing kids is infected with the desire to do more. It's just so satisfying to see the effect we can have on the world when we choose to give to others. Coaching is all about helping people to realize the best version of themselves., and when they do, and we're lucky enough to witness it, there is little else that compares to that feeling. Despite the huge value that Richard brings to the world, he was President at least three President's ago. Coaching has changed. Community demographics have changed. The competitive landscape has changed. And I certainly bring an emphasis to the Club on both the business back end - as an investment banker and consultant to other businesses, I naturally gravitate towards the infrastructure, to risk mitigation, to creative financing, and to long term strategy that I don't imagine many people really care about. But I love it! Richard and I were sharing perspectives - both old and new - when I noticed that he looked a little out of his element. Website conversion rates, using a financial statement to get a picture of operations, and creative financing techniques are not just not something he had reason to dig into in his former roles. You can't blame him, right? Most people will die a happy death without ever having explored these subjects, but they are a real and regular part of my vocabulary and thinking. I got the sense that he was almost apologetic that this wasn't his thing. He clearly has a ton of value to bring, but in different ways. My brain jumped the rails a little during our lunch conversation. I was at first a little surprised by what i saw in his face, and I brought the conversation where this episode is hopefully going to bring you and I. You. Are. Important. PLEASE: support the show and/or join our community as a Patron through my Patreon page​

You may be among the lucky few who pay thousands of dollars per year to keep the $16 Billion+ elite youth sports industry alive and well, but as the great Sherlock Holmes, a fictional private detective imagined by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, would point out: it's the stuff we're not seeing that often provide the best evidence. Local community fields are empty. Childhood obesity rates in the US are up. Real talent is going undiscovered and undeveloped. What's more is the lessons that the simple life, family, and community-based lessons that youth sports are intended to deliver are being overshadowed by screaming parents, sexy uniforms, professional turf fields, and win-at-all-cost approaches to the game. Public Enemy #1 - Pay to PlayThe youth sports industry is a $16+ Billion with a B industry. Uniforms, shoes, fields, equipment, coaches earning a living... it's big business. If you're on a travel team and driving around a tri-state area to play soccer games, you might believe that youth sports is hugely successful. By measure of business or by how efficient it has gotten in its ability to vacuum money out of family wallets, it is! But if you are not seeing beyond the bubble of those who can afford to pay, then you're missing some really important stuff. Community youth fields are empty. Childhood obesity is up. Kids who are playing are getting bad signals from both sides of the sidelines & some of those kids are now old enough to be cutting you off in traffic!It's not that youth sports isn't booming business. It's that families who don't have the means to buy into that business are being left behind or discouraged. I see it every season on my recreation fields. Numbers for recreational soccer in my are have been dropping by 17% to 33% per season. A lot of these kids are simply not playing anymore.  Please: support the show and join our community as a Patron through my Patreon pageProblem #2 - Over Served KidsWhile there are many kids who are underserved or not served at all in some communities, there is a growing number of kids who are over-served. The main characteristic of an over-served kid is one who is served a sport in excess. They may be specialized (aka limited to only one sport or one position) too early. They may be forced to practice more often than is recommended for their age group. They may be pressured by parents who are spending in excess for the sport and consequently becoming attached to outcomes that the kid didn't buy into - or, like most kids, changed their mind about after a while. Over served kids burn out. They get too much or have an experience that is too intense, and they quit. Across the United States, the average dropout age is 14. By 14-years-old, 70% of kids in America are dropping out of youth sports. Some of this can be attributed to the pay-to-play issue we already talked about, but many in this category are burned out. I myself did well in High School swimming, but we worked out twice per day during the season, and often on Saturdays. Our team trained like a college team and it was too much. Despite an offer from several colleges to come swim for them, I was burned out. I stayed away from swimming for years and didn't get back in the water again seriously until my time in the Navy. Burnout is a real thing. Problem #3 - Under Served KidsThe most obvious population of kids we think about as being underserved are the ones who come from families who can't afford the high cost of playing team sports. Maybe mom and dad don't have time to drive their young player around.

If you think coaches are not paying attention in youth sports, don't. They are. Things like being reliable matter. If you think I'm talking about just consistently hitting a crispy seam pass through defenders, I'm not. I'm talking about a players ability to make an honor commitments. Seemingly little things matter: being late to practice or games, not keeping promises to show up at a special events, failure to follow through with a promised email or not responding at all. Players need to learn how to sweat the small stuff, because if it comes down to two players: one who's always reliable, communicates well, and follows through - or one that doesn't - the one that is reliable gets the money. Let's get behind the scenes and learn what's going on with the people who support our players. Reliability by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock ImagesBeing Reliable In Youth SportsFor young athletes, being reliable is one of those things that youth sports provides great opportunities to learn. I think most coaches would agree that we don't expect kids to understand the importance of reliability right away. Learning this lesson is something that moms and dads can help with a lot - once they understand the opportunity and know how to tap into it. By the end of this episode, you will. More importantly, you'll know why it's so important for our kids! They may be missing out on some great opportunities for silly reasons. There are many ways to define reliability in youth sports. Being fit and being able of running the full period of a game is one way. Fitness is something all coaches are looking for. It's also something that isn't going to come entirely from the practice or game environments. After say, ages 12 or 13, if the only fitness a kid gets is at practice, they're going to fall behind. Having reliable skills in a game environment is another way. As a coach, I've had players I know are consistent on the field and some who seem to bring a different player every game. I've heard some players tell me they're going to do something in a game and I've watched with delight as they did it. I've had other players tell me they're going to do something in a game and I've gone home afterwards wondering why they said that. Reliability is important and coaches come to rely on certain players to anchor the team strategy or informs the playing formation. unreliable field players need contingency plans. A coach might find themselves thinking: if this player is on today, then A. If they're not on today, then we need to do B. Reliable players on the field make a pretty big difference in the overall experience. Now you may have expected me to say something about reliability on the pitch, but what I'm about to say when we come back may come as a surprise. Don't worry when you hear this. The good news is that moms and dads can have a direct and profound effect on player reliability on the pitch and off - in youth sports and in real life.  Please: support the show and join our community as a Patron through my Patreon pageReliability Off the Pitch in Youth SportsCoaches are looking for solid people for their soccer teams, but let's not stop there. Employers are looking for solid people to work for their companies. See where I'm going with this? The youth sports environment is a great learning environment. Kid's will do well to do their best to learn reliability while the adults supporting them are still understanding about mis-steps. Employers are not so forgiving. The reality is, coaches can lose patience too. This should never be in the sense that players get lesser treatment on the soccer pitch, but there are a lot of things that happen off the pitch that are af...

Imagine yourself sitting at a table. You're at a nice cafe in Paris. You're drinking a cup of fresh brewed coffee, eating your favorite breakfast and watching people walk by. People watching can be fun. We all do it. All the different sizes, shapes, colors, personalities, voices... it's not a half bad way to spend a morning in Paris. 

Imagine someone you know walks by. You know their family, their dog, what they do for a living, their sense of humor. You know a lot about this person. You think they're funny. They have a signature move you've seen a hundred times. The whole feeling of the scene changes, right? You expect something. Maybe you rooting for their success and want to hear what brought them to the city of love.

You just transitioned from passively watching a sea of people to jumping emotionally into that sea. You're invested now. There is a story here. Watching a soccer game is similar. You can be a passive spectator, or you can get so much more out of it. Today, I'm going to help you get more out of the game. I'm definitely going to help you appreciate this latest Women's World Cup. Let's talk about it. 

Watching the Women's World Cup 2019

I have to give a shout out to Volkswagon this year for sponsoring a series called "One Nation. One Team. 23 Stories." You can find this series on Youtube spread all over with other "related videos" sprinkled in between, or you can just go to this week's episode of The Soccer Sidelines and find them all stacked neatly together in my show notes. Yes... I did that for you, and I hope you appreciate the effort. 

If I'm being honest, I really enjoyed the process. It took me some time, but each video in the 23 video series features a personal interview with each player that runs right about 3 minutes long. What that means is that in a little more than an hour, you can get to know the personal back stories and see the individual personalities of each of these World Class Women soccer players. The interviews are low key. The give the feeling of being up close and personal with each player. And I guarantee that you'll see the Women's National Team in a whole new light when you're done.

I started collecting these videos for you before the game against Sweden, then I watched the Sweden game and found myself rooting for our women in a way similar to the way I've only rooted for the youth teams I've coached.

* I wanted Rose Lavelle to do well and I felt inspired myself knowing that she was inspired by her youth coach.

* I wanted Crystal Dunn to believe in herself as a player and have the world show her how much she means to the game.

* I wanted Ali Krieger to love and enjoy her comeback story.

* I imagined Tierna Davidson dreaming about being an astronaut and wondering how she must feel now playing soccer on the world stage. 

If you're a coach, you know what I'm about to say. When you know the personal stories of each of the players in front of you, you're watching a lot more than the score board during a game. You're rooting for the people and their personal stories. You want each one of those players to be successful and you realize that success means something just a little different for each one.

The games I watched in the lead up to the Women's World Cup made me literally stand up - I couldn't sit down. When Kelley O'Hara got hurt in what I assume was a concussion on Sunday, I felt like I should be running out onto the field and picking her up - as I've done so many times with my own players. It is gut wrenching to know that a player you know as more than a jersey number got hurt. 

What I'm trying to say is this: whether you're watching a youth soccer match or a professional game, the more you know the players as people, the more likely you are to:

* respect the game and the empathize with the people playin...

By: David DejewskiA youth athlete without character is like a sports car without a steering wheel. Coaches know that character matters when selecting youth athletes. Last week, we ran an ID camp in Maryland where character made the difference. If you have a youth athlete who's trying to get noticed, be sure that it's not just their physical skills that get seen. Often when two athletes are similar in size, skill, and physicality, it's the one with the best character that bubbles to the top. In this episode, I'll share several examples of character that matters that we saw in camp and how it impacted the selection process.  Please: support the show and join our community as a Patron through my Patreon pageThe Backdrop: ID CampID Camps happen all over the country - multiple countries, in fact. I don't want to leave out my international readers! ID camps are basically a recruiting activity where kids come from all over, coaches train them and/or run them through a series of activities designed to showcase the talent that came to camp, and end in a selection process - often to give kids a chance to move on to other camps or possibly to be considered for play at a college or university. The camp that we just hosted through the Damascus Soccer Club in Maryland, is coached by Stoke City Potters Academy coaches in England and facilitated by Global Image Sports from Atlanta, Georgia. About 23 kids from Alexandria, VA to Frederick Maryland took advantage of this camp, trained for three days, and competed for the 20% of invitations available to attend the National Camp in Georgia later this year. These young players brought with them a lot of talent and was fun to explore and we knew very early that several of them would do well at National Camp if given the chance. These three days were dedicated to which of these players would be given the invitation. A decision like this is not easy. Factors That Lead To a DecisionGenerally, players are evaluated for their physicality and physical abilities, their technical ability, their mental ability to understand and process the game, and their psycho-social ability. When players all weigh in around the same level for these four qualities, we need a tie breaker. This is what inspired today's episode. Character matters. Let's talk about how character becomes the tie breaker.Character Tie BreakersTake two players of equal size and abilities. One hands another a water jug when it's hot. The other shields his water from team mates when someone runs out. Who are you going to choose? The answer is pretty obvious when seen from that perspective, right? The one who shares might just be a better team mate. It bears watching. Next, take two players of equal size and abilities. One slows down and start walking half-way through the practice session. The other pushes hard all the way until the end. Who are you going to choose? In this case, the player who wants it more is likely to have a stronger work ethic. As a coach, you know this is going to be needed later in training when things get considerably harder. Consider two players of unequal size and ability. Player A has a better touch on the ball than player B. Both need improvement (as we all do). Player A sees you offering constructive feedback and ignores it. Player B not only absorbs the feedback in the practice session, but you learn that this player went home later that evening and worked some more on the things you suggested they work on. Player A still has a better touch on that ball for the session the next day, but you see improvement in Player B.

Become a PatronWhen you're moving with the current, you can afford to relax. When the current is flowing opposite of the direction you want to go, you may have to paddle like crazy. A mental image of yourself in a canoe on a powerful river is useful for understanding how time can affect the outcome of a match - or even of a practice. Learning how to manage the clock is one of those things we learn from youth sports, and it's one of those things that really matters. Let's talk about it. The Many Clocks in SoccerI'm betting that you thought that I would be talking about managing the clock during game time. Of course, I'm going to talk about that in a minute or two, but I wouldn't be giving you the full picture without first showing you a few more of the clocks relevant to a youth soccer career or explaining how good clock management translates into real life. After all- we're not just about winning youth soccer games here are we?The first clock is the Development Clock. As a youth soccer expert, you know that the clock in the United States starts at age 3 and runs until age 18. Every season, different things are relevant to kids as a result of their physical, mental, and emotional maturity. I've spoken about this in many previous shows that you can find on this site, so I'll move on to the next clock. The second clock is the Registration Clock. It may not seem like it matters when you register, but as  Club President who's served as Director for programs, Registrar, and Treasurer, it does. Late registrations are a nightmare for clubs and they curb a club's ability to be creative about programmings. The sooner your club knows how many players of what ages they will have, the sooner they can start the search for qualified coaches, reserve the fields, make contracts with referees and order equipment - to name a few things. We all do our best to guess what we're going to be working with, but I can say with confidence that late registrations have definitely affected the quality of programming and additional support that players could have had, but didn't because the clock ran out of time. The third clock, I will call the Fuel Clock. By fuel, I have to combine food and water. Whether an athlete is leading up to a practice or a game, timing fuel and hydration is important. I've often talked about the raisin-in-a-shot-glass effect. Drop a raisin in a 5 gallon drum of water and pull it right back out again, and all you have is a wet raisin. Drop that same raisin in a shot glass of water and let it soak overnight, and it'll plump back up like a grape. The body's cells work in a similar way. Hydration needs to start slowly the day before a match or a practice. Taking in water slowly over time has a much more positive effect than slamming 32 ounces before running out onto the pitch. The slow method will properly hydrate our body's cells and give us plenty of temperature regulation and energy. The slam method will just slosh around in our stomachs, give us a tummy ache, and get dumped right back out again through our kidneys. Food timing is important too. Heavy proteins are great maybe after a match to help with recovery. But before a match, fast acting carbs are a better fit. Stop eating two hours before a match or a practice to ensure the intestines can finish their work and the blood your muscles need is available. The fourth clock I'll call the Recovery Clock. This is one of the most overlooked and least talked about clocks in youth sports, but it's super important. Practice and games cause fatigue and break down muscle and connective tissue. Rest gives the body a chance to rebuild - hopefully to an even strong state than before the event. Professional teams going on the road will often try to pick up some road matches before the big event. Coaches want players to get accustomed to the rigors of games stacke...

Soccer offers students many benefits as they mature through the development years, but benefits of soccer don't stop there. In this episode, we explore how the game of soccer can connect us with 3.5 Billion fans around the world and create networking opportunities in situations far removed from the soccer field throughout life. 

Soccer is Big Everywhere!

Soccer is the biggest game in the world! Between the players and the fans, you're more likely to run into someone who knows and loves the game of soccer than any other game in the world. 

* 250 Million players world-wide in 200 countries

* 12 Million players every year in the US

* 3.5 Billion fans around the world

The biggest single sport in the United States is American Football - which has 400 Million fans. This hardly comes close to the numbers of people we find in the game or supporting the game of soccer. You can travel to more than 200 countries, pick up a soccer ball, kick it, and it's GAME ON for you and those around you. 

Benefits of Soccer Beyond the Pitch

The chances of you running into someone who is somehow affiliated with the game of soccer are significant. Whether you're a soccer parent, an adult player, a former youth player, or a rabid fan who rides the busses around Europe to follow your favorite team, there is a good chance you're going to share the game with someone in just about any room you walk into - for life!

If networking is all about finding common ground, knowing, liking, and wanting to get to know others, then the beautiful game is a great addition to the professional's toolbox. Discussions about the game transcend language, age, race, and can almost always draw a smile. Try kicking a ball to someone's feet and see how they respond! 

Benefits of Soccer as a Universal Language

The rules of soccer are universal. It doesn't matter what culture you come from, what language you speak, or what problems you wrestle with, the benefits of soccer can help us win together in the game of life!

Resources

* “Top 10 List of the World's Most Popular Sports.” Topend Sports, Science, Training and Nutrition, www.topendsports.com/world/lists/popular-sport/fans.htm.

If you haven't heard it yet, there is a new training methodology in soccer town called Play, Practice, Play. It's not really new. We've been doing it in the context of US Youth Soccer for more than a year now and you'll find correlation with an article titled Teaching Games for Understanding: A Comprehensive Approach to Promote Student’s Motivation in Physical Education  published in 2017 (see Resources below for full citation). But it may be new to you. I know it's still new to many who are just coming into the sport and it can have a profound impact on how we look at the game. Let's talk about play, practice, play; what it means to players, coaches, and parents; and what effect it has on the way we look at the game.Practice Matters!As a former multi-sport athlete, the thing I remember the most and perhaps the thing that had the biggest effect on the rest of my life was practice. Games were fun and they certainly gave us a chance to measure progress being made in practice sessions, but practice is where the most growth and development happen. It's where we learn to work as a team, where we get the most guidance on work ethic and behind-the-scenes tips on how to play and improve, and where sweat is forged into gold. As a coach, I put a lot more time and attention into practice than I do into games. I tell my players that they own the games. I own the practices. I make the most difference as a coach on the practice field. That is my classroom. Games are players chance to show what they've learned. It makes sense to spend time thinking about practice & trying to find the best practice experiences that we can if we want to become better at the sport we love. It makes sense to emphasize practice if we want to maximize the development experience that youth sports gives us both on and off the pitch. This is what US Youth Soccer did when they re-designed the practice methodology. Play, Practice, Play vs the Four Phase SystemPlay, Practice, Play is now built into every grassroots coach's training education under US Youth Soccer. For coaches (and players) who have been around for a while, this new system of training stands in contrast to the older Four-phase system. It used to be that we were trained to deliver a warm-up phase to get bodies in motion without injury. That would be followed by three additional phases of training - each one progressively more complex than the last one, and all of them united around a common theme. An example of a common theme might be a focus on moving as a unit during a defensive phase of play in the defensive third. A progressive series might include warm ups, defending 1v1 down four channels, then defending 2v2 down two channels, then defending 4v4 down one channel, etc. In the fourth phase of this style of practice, we might execute a scrimmage with the hope of seeing the methods taught in training being used on the field in a game-like environment. This is a coach or curriculum based approach to training. It's designed to progress players through a series of increasingly more challenging scenarios so that at the end, players have hopefully acquired new skills relative to the main theme. this is the way I coached myself for several years and it's still being used in the more competitive training environments. There is nothing wrong with it, but modern thinking is that we lost a lot of players as a result. Especially in the grass roots programs, motivations to come play are not as focused on on structured development. Fun is a huge motivator. The four phase method of structuring training has more of a "work" based structure that Play, Practice, Play. Play, Practice, Play, on the other hand placed emphasis on game-like scenarios and fun. It's structured to put kids into game-like situations as soon as they show up on the field.

How eager would you be to allow a surgeon to cut you open and remove your gallbladder if that surgeon never watched a surgery before? Not very, right? You instinctively know that performing a physical skill is easier if you've watched someone else do it first. 

Likewise, if you want to learn to play music, it helps to listen to music. Most athletic skills are the same way. These skills are not life or death like in the surgery example, but the principles are the same. 

There are benefits of watching soccer, from watching pro games on TV to watching games in person. There are benefits from watching soccer in person that you can't get from watching the game on TV. In this post, I'll share a few personal stories of games that happened these last two weeks and share what the experts say about the simple act of watching games. 

The Inspiration Behind This Episode

My wife volunteered as field marshal for a tournament here in the Mid-Atlantic area this past weekend. This was her first time doing this. She was a little intimidated going out the door that morning, but when she came home, the one thing she wanted to talk about the most was the quality of play she saw on the field. The two teams she watched came down from Massachusetts and New Jersey for the 40th annual Potomac Memorial Tournament right here in my back yard at the Germantown Maryland Soccerplex Complex. 

She was impressed by the level of play of these two teams. She had never seen such passing, such ability to hold their shape, such possession, teamwork and skill. She talked about it for several days and told my son and I that we would have loved to watch those games. She's right. I know the value of watching games and by the end of this episode, you will too!

When I started learning how to be a youth soccer coach, I did what I had always done in the business world and in life. I sought out people who had been doing the thing that I wanted to do - and learned from them. I talked with anyone who would talk with me. I met with coaches who were willing to show me the secrets of coaching young soccer players. I visited my local soccerplex and watched dozens of youth games. I attended every practice for other teams my kids played on with a notebook in hand and took notes and drew diagrams. I took courses, read books, and watched professional soccer on TV. I immersed myself, found coaches and styles I liked, focused the questions I sought answers for in books, then returned to the field to test my new working theories. 

I don't expect you to embrace the same level of game analysis that I do, but like my wife, who's never played soccer in her life, the benefits of watching soccer - in this case a good game - moved the bar in her mind. She now knows what good quality soccer looks like and she understands more why it's called "the beautiful game." 

I want you to enjoy this sport as much as my players do. I want you to have the same "ah-ha" moment my wife did as field marshal this last weekend. If you haven't already had that moment, I have good news. It's probably closer than you think. 

What Are the Benefits of Watching Soccer?

One of the benefits of watching soccer is that it gives you a base vocabulary to draw from. Just being around the game, you'll come to know the touchline, the 18, the penalty area, the corner, the timing, the difference between a touchline and a goal line. If you pay attention, you'll get sight pictures of an inside-of-the-foot pass versus an outside-of-the-foot pass. You might understand why, at practice, your coach is playing games with the kids that emphasizes inside-of-the-foot,