Silver lining of missing the trip with my 14s to Portland this weekend? Hanging out with the 11s at NSC Cup!
In order to continually challenge the Blues, most of the local events we will be participating in this summer will be at the U12 age group. However, it is important to make our mark at our own age group as well this summer so people know about us and hopeful good performances will serve to "expand our brand" so to speak, and maybe attract other talent to our program.
Attract other talent? What?!?!?! What about developing players in your own club?!?! What about promoting from within your own organization?!?! You seem like you're always looking to replace your current players with other players?!?! I hear this gripe about what our club does from people now and again - both from current Bangu parents as well as from non-Bangu people who attempt to pick our program apart. I'll tackle these questions here and now in order.
First, our Academy is ALL about player development at the younger age groups. Our philosophy is to bring similarly talented and interested kids and parents together, provide them with year-round, structured training developed by professionals and under the guidance of quality coaches and trainers. Does this set us apart from community clubs? Not much these days as more and more clubs are moving towards year-round team instruction and more and more clubs are placing the coaching focus at the younger age groups. I'd like to think we're a big part of this recent movement, but that's just me. So what's the difference between our Academy and other programs at the U9 to U12 age groups? Well, the main difference is we're a regional magnet for interested players in the East (Woodbury), North (Andover), and South (Bloomington). After the merger with the Thunder, our younger Academy programs will expand to include the West (Plymouth/New Hope) and an Urban Academy (Minneapolis/St Paul), as well as bring Blaine into the mix in the North with the new partnership the Thunder has with the National Sports Center. These geographically dispersed Regional Academies will serve to attract talent and interest from multiple cities. This is the big difference as most other soccer associations are set up to provide soccer development for kids in their single communities.
Though our White teams are comprised of kids from multiple geographic areas, the more visible benefits of this magnetism come with the Blue teams each year, teams that not only draw from numerous areas, but moreover draw talent from multiple areas. This makes it tough for a local community team to compete with our top teams and why we look to play outside of our age group with many of the Blues.
Are we better than community clubs? Well, define better. If better is wining some tournaments, maybe we're better. But I don't think that collecting trophies at U11 has anything much directly to do with where players are at 5 years from now. If better is providing a development environment to the most kids, we're clearly not better than many clubs. If better is developing players, I think we're better at developing a certain type of player - the gifted players who need to be surrounded by other talented players to allow for a consistent level of challenge in each and every training session.
I have absolutely no idea where I was going with this - so back to the questions.
We give all our kids close to 100 coached sessions per year. If you count each tournament game separately, we're well about that number. Our teams go through the same year-round development system, and I believe improvement is tangible as I look at all the kids this summer as compared to where they were at last fall. So yes, we develop players.
As for promotion from within, no one can tell me that good at 10 means good at 17. Clearly there are some special players who, as long as they continue to love the game, anyone can tell they'll have success in this sport. However, I've known two kids who have attained national level abilities, coming from second teams at U11. Personally, I didn't do the majority of my own development, the real development that allowed me to play at the professional level, until I reached Macalester College.
Through these experiences, I'm always on the look out for the current "B" team player who can make the jump to the top team in August. It happens all the time. And our White team at this age group in the East is very good. I've been thrilled to see the changes in those player in a year. However, we look for the best current talent interested for our Blue teams each August. It is unfair to current Blue team players to take a kid onto a Blue team based on loyalty they've shown to our club in the past. I'm not providing the best service possible to the talent gathered on the Blue team already if I'm not always looking to recruit more talent. There, I said the dreaded "R" word. I don't have a problem with it, that's what I do, that's what our club does, and we make no bones about it. But ALL clubs recruit players. I ran the recreational program in Woodbury for 4 years, and recruiting happened there. I know C3 teams that recruit from rec programs, C2 teams from other C2 teams, and Premier teams from surrounding areas. Our club is just out there looking to recruit the very best players for the Blue teams and that makes us an easy lightning rod for criticism. No problem. We can take it.
What about the fact that it seems like I'm always looking to replace my own players with better players. Well, that's partly true as I look to next year. However, throughout the 0708 season until the last day of our last game, my girls have my commitment to give them all the tools necessary to battle for Blue team roster spots next year. Will our roster change in August. Probably. But in this we're no different from many other clubs. There are always tryouts each August, there is always some kind of turnover. Well, maybe not always, but pretty darn close. It's my hope that any player who works with me for a year will leave a better player than they started. There undoubtedly will be hard feelings by parents/players if/when told that they were not able to secure a Blue team roster spot for the next year, but in the end, it's my hope they look back on their time with me as a positive one. I fully realize that's asking a lot sometimes for some people. That's OK, comes with the territory. Soccer coaching is a fickle business, I've said that plenty of times. People usually like me until they don't.
In the end, as I've said before, my job, and the job of all the coaches I work with, is to give the girls the tools throughout the year needed to continue to play at the highest level they possibly can the following year. Some girls are tuned in at training and pick up coaching well. Some girls don't and this surely affects their overall development. Some girls have the deep desire to train on their own. Some girls only touch a ball during our training sessions. Some girls have a passion that is flourishing, some girls have parents too hard on them and their passion could wane. Some girls will develop bodies suited for athletics at the higher levels, some girls won't. Some girls have an innate intelligence for the game, some girls don't. That's the way it goes. I can only help facilitate development, I can't control 100% of it.
Holy crap. Where did all this come from? I was finally going to sit down and catch up on some tournament thoughts from the last few weeks. Oh well, maybe tomorrow. I'm going to have to re-title this post...
Wednesday, August 13, 2008 at 11:37AM 
A whole 4 days after the 0809 team is formed, we're off to the Chicago area for what will likely be this year's most competitive soccer tournament for us. Moreover, we're going to play 11v11 soccer, something that only 2 of these girls have had any real experience with. 
What was supposed to be a post about NSC Cup, but turned into a bit of a Caribou Coffee Iced Vanilla Latte rant
Silver lining of missing the trip with my 14s to Portland this weekend? Hanging out with the 11s at NSC Cup!
In order to continually challenge the Blues, most of the local events we will be participating in this summer will be at the U12 age group. However, it is important to make our mark at our own age group as well this summer so people know about us and hopeful good performances will serve to "expand our brand" so to speak, and maybe attract other talent to our program.
Attract other talent? What?!?!?! What about developing players in your own club?!?! What about promoting from within your own organization?!?! You seem like you're always looking to replace your current players with other players?!?! I hear this gripe about what our club does from people now and again - both from current Bangu parents as well as from non-Bangu people who attempt to pick our program apart. I'll tackle these questions here and now in order.
First, our Academy is ALL about player development at the younger age groups. Our philosophy is to bring similarly talented and interested kids and parents together, provide them with year-round, structured training developed by professionals and under the guidance of quality coaches and trainers. Does this set us apart from community clubs? Not much these days as more and more clubs are moving towards year-round team instruction and more and more clubs are placing the coaching focus at the younger age groups. I'd like to think we're a big part of this recent movement, but that's just me. So what's the difference between our Academy and other programs at the U9 to U12 age groups? Well, the main difference is we're a regional magnet for interested players in the East (Woodbury), North (Andover), and South (Bloomington). After the merger with the Thunder, our younger Academy programs will expand to include the West (Plymouth/New Hope) and an Urban Academy (Minneapolis/St Paul), as well as bring Blaine into the mix in the North with the new partnership the Thunder has with the National Sports Center. These geographically dispersed Regional Academies will serve to attract talent and interest from multiple cities. This is the big difference as most other soccer associations are set up to provide soccer development for kids in their single communities.
Though our White teams are comprised of kids from multiple geographic areas, the more visible benefits of this magnetism come with the Blue teams each year, teams that not only draw from numerous areas, but moreover draw talent from multiple areas. This makes it tough for a local community team to compete with our top teams and why we look to play outside of our age group with many of the Blues.
Are we better than community clubs? Well, define better. If better is wining some tournaments, maybe we're better. But I don't think that collecting trophies at U11 has anything much directly to do with where players are at 5 years from now. If better is providing a development environment to the most kids, we're clearly not better than many clubs. If better is developing players, I think we're better at developing a certain type of player - the gifted players who need to be surrounded by other talented players to allow for a consistent level of challenge in each and every training session.
I have absolutely no idea where I was going with this - so back to the questions.
We give all our kids close to 100 coached sessions per year. If you count each tournament game separately, we're well about that number. Our teams go through the same year-round development system, and I believe improvement is tangible as I look at all the kids this summer as compared to where they were at last fall. So yes, we develop players.
As for promotion from within, no one can tell me that good at 10 means good at 17. Clearly there are some special players who, as long as they continue to love the game, anyone can tell they'll have success in this sport. However, I've known two kids who have attained national level abilities, coming from second teams at U11. Personally, I didn't do the majority of my own development, the real development that allowed me to play at the professional level, until I reached Macalester College.
Through these experiences, I'm always on the look out for the current "B" team player who can make the jump to the top team in August. It happens all the time. And our White team at this age group in the East is very good. I've been thrilled to see the changes in those player in a year. However, we look for the best current talent interested for our Blue teams each August. It is unfair to current Blue team players to take a kid onto a Blue team based on loyalty they've shown to our club in the past. I'm not providing the best service possible to the talent gathered on the Blue team already if I'm not always looking to recruit more talent. There, I said the dreaded "R" word. I don't have a problem with it, that's what I do, that's what our club does, and we make no bones about it. But ALL clubs recruit players. I ran the recreational program in Woodbury for 4 years, and recruiting happened there. I know C3 teams that recruit from rec programs, C2 teams from other C2 teams, and Premier teams from surrounding areas. Our club is just out there looking to recruit the very best players for the Blue teams and that makes us an easy lightning rod for criticism. No problem. We can take it.
What about the fact that it seems like I'm always looking to replace my own players with better players. Well, that's partly true as I look to next year. However, throughout the 0708 season until the last day of our last game, my girls have my commitment to give them all the tools necessary to battle for Blue team roster spots next year. Will our roster change in August. Probably. But in this we're no different from many other clubs. There are always tryouts each August, there is always some kind of turnover. Well, maybe not always, but pretty darn close. It's my hope that any player who works with me for a year will leave a better player than they started. There undoubtedly will be hard feelings by parents/players if/when told that they were not able to secure a Blue team roster spot for the next year, but in the end, it's my hope they look back on their time with me as a positive one. I fully realize that's asking a lot sometimes for some people. That's OK, comes with the territory. Soccer coaching is a fickle business, I've said that plenty of times. People usually like me until they don't.
In the end, as I've said before, my job, and the job of all the coaches I work with, is to give the girls the tools throughout the year needed to continue to play at the highest level they possibly can the following year. Some girls are tuned in at training and pick up coaching well. Some girls don't and this surely affects their overall development. Some girls have the deep desire to train on their own. Some girls only touch a ball during our training sessions. Some girls have a passion that is flourishing, some girls have parents too hard on them and their passion could wane. Some girls will develop bodies suited for athletics at the higher levels, some girls won't. Some girls have an innate intelligence for the game, some girls don't. That's the way it goes. I can only help facilitate development, I can't control 100% of it.
Holy crap. Where did all this come from? I was finally going to sit down and catch up on some tournament thoughts from the last few weeks. Oh well, maybe tomorrow. I'm going to have to re-title this post...