In the final part of our series exploring the past, present and future of American Youth Development – “What if our best athletes DO Play Soccer – presented by Allstate – Rusty Aaronson, father of American wunderkinds Brenden and Paxten Aaronson shares his advice on developing young soccer players as a parent.
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16 Comments
What would you change about U.S. Youth Development? 🇺🇸
been coaching youth soccer as a volunteer parent for 10 years. i definitely agree we need to let kids just play. and figure out more time for them to play uncoached pickup outside of formal "practice"
Pride of South Jersey! Keep up the great work Rusty!
No street soccer in America, means the USA will never produce those elite skilful players that make the difference. To misquote a Scotsman, ‘You don’t win anything with suburban kids.’
Youth coaching has become a “business,” hence, more youth coaching.
bud light 🤮
Pablo Aimar, from Argentina national coaching team, said that kids learn individual skills while playing and having fun, later the clubs give them the discipline of the team play. Yes, kids need to have fun to be good players.
This guy knows.
The problem is not over coaching at youth. It is sanctioned "winning" and "losing" – grown men are living out their fantasies of being a Champions League manager through kids in a league table structured environment. So, what happens is game management comes into play. Kids learn about game management WAY to early. IF you take all that away, or severally limit it, what you're left with is coaches and managers that want to take risks. Be creative, etc. That's what you want. All those street ball games have no structured environment. No tables, no leagues, no accolades. So, players take risks. Most of you don't get that and never will because you can't remember being a child (or don't want to).
Went to Sweden and they have fields, literally EVERYWHERE! It was insane, they were constantly playing football in Stockholm, even in the country side i saw multiple football pitches. That was an eyeopener for me, on how much Europeans love and live the sport.
I don't think they are over coached. The baseline for the American player is much lower than other countries.
Totally agree, it's all about "touches on the ball." I have grandkids and I'm watching 11 year old girls play 9v9 on a field 100 yards long. Why? Halve the number of players, halve the field and they'll have more than twice as many touches, challenges, decisions, transitions….. drives me crazy. I coached youth soccer for years and I feel like we're going backwards.
It is not the case that there is too much instruction, it is simply that there is too much BAD instruction. Instruction is the key to developing but it needs to come from a high caliber source.
Amazing interview. Wise words for everyone, but especially appreciated as a father of two kids who are starting their soccer journey. To master a language one must speak. To master a sport one must play.
“Messing about” was the euphemism used by Paul Gardner in a column he wrote decades ago. Kids learn their skills by horsing around with their friends, far away from adults with whistles and orange pylons. Sadly, in those intervening years, the over-coaching has only gotten worse.
Also important to note soccer over here is often a rich kid sport. Much rarer in the US to find that working class kid that finds soccer as a way up, much more often driven to other sports. But agree greatly with this video to.
100% right not enough touches on the ball, not enough free play at the younger ages.