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Give & Go: US Coach John Hackworth, Part II
In the second part of an exclusive interview with Goal.com, U.S. assistant coach John Hackworth discusses the future of the residency program at Bradenton, where he was once head coach.
Jan 19, 2009 2:31:25 PM
Former U17 national team coach John Hackworth is now an assistant coach for the full national team under head coach Bob Bradley. He is also the director of the U.S. Soccer Developmental Academy program, aimed at trying to bring professional-quality development to a larger amount of young players.
Hackworth took time out from the U.S. national team's January training camp to discuss several topics in a two-part interview.
Part I of the Give & Go with Goal.com's Andrea Canales was posted on Friday.
Andrea Canales: What's a key priority for the coaching staff?
John Hackworth: What we need to do as a staff is make good decisions on the players that we choose to invest in as a program.
How has the adjustment been, going from head coach of a younger squad to assistant coach of the senior team? What's it like working with Bob Bradley?
As a starting point, it's been awesome working with Bob - and (assistant coaches) Peter [Nowak], Mike [Sorber], (fitness coach) Pierre [Barrieu] and (goalkeeper coach) Zac [Abdel]. This is a coach's dream, my personal dream - to reach this level. As a coach and a person, Bob is great to work with.
What's your specific role?
My role within our program as director of Academy Development is pretty unique. I'm still trying to drive the youth player development with my experiences and knowledge with what I did in six years with the residency program and at the same time, connect it with our full team and now being a part of it on an individual level, growing as a coach and having this new level of experiences to go with it. I'm fortunate and I'm trying to take advantage of it.
Most countries don't do what the U.S. does at Bradenton - if the Development Academy program gets going nicely and is tied in well with pro clubs, is Bradenton necessary in the future?
We've had that question before, but I don't think we're close to an answer on that. Ultimately, we need to see if we can get our youth soccer system to produce the way that residency has produced. Until we get to that, I think there's still an important need for residency to be there. It'll be interesting, five years from now, what happens.
Could you see Bradenton's residency program one day shutting down?
I've talked to other people around the world about youth development. An interesting conversation was with people from the English FA. Their idea of residency was Lilleshall. Even though they have a much different setup, they have regrets about getting rid of that program. So we need to be careful about statements like, "Yeah, we're going to make residency obsolete."
Why in particular?
Residency has proven that it works. It works in a very challenging and unique country, in terms of size and with all of the unique aspects of youth sports in America. Player development in any sport or area of expertise is different in this country and how we look at it. I know that's a broad statement, but it's the truth.
How so?
You have a country this big, with a culture that values results and winning and being a star, at any age, so early, that it really doesn't matter what happens long-term. It's all about today, about media, getting in the spotlight and all those kinds of things. It clouds our own perception of how to really grow something and nurture and create a program that is really about development and the educational process.
Andrea Canales is Chief Editor of Goal.com.
Hackworth took time out from the U.S. national team's January training camp to discuss several topics in a two-part interview.
Part I of the Give & Go with Goal.com's Andrea Canales was posted on Friday.
Andrea Canales: What's a key priority for the coaching staff?
John Hackworth: What we need to do as a staff is make good decisions on the players that we choose to invest in as a program.
How has the adjustment been, going from head coach of a younger squad to assistant coach of the senior team? What's it like working with Bob Bradley?
As a starting point, it's been awesome working with Bob - and (assistant coaches) Peter [Nowak], Mike [Sorber], (fitness coach) Pierre [Barrieu] and (goalkeeper coach) Zac [Abdel]. This is a coach's dream, my personal dream - to reach this level. As a coach and a person, Bob is great to work with.
What's your specific role?
My role within our program as director of Academy Development is pretty unique. I'm still trying to drive the youth player development with my experiences and knowledge with what I did in six years with the residency program and at the same time, connect it with our full team and now being a part of it on an individual level, growing as a coach and having this new level of experiences to go with it. I'm fortunate and I'm trying to take advantage of it.
Most countries don't do what the U.S. does at Bradenton - if the Development Academy program gets going nicely and is tied in well with pro clubs, is Bradenton necessary in the future?
We've had that question before, but I don't think we're close to an answer on that. Ultimately, we need to see if we can get our youth soccer system to produce the way that residency has produced. Until we get to that, I think there's still an important need for residency to be there. It'll be interesting, five years from now, what happens.
Could you see Bradenton's residency program one day shutting down?
I've talked to other people around the world about youth development. An interesting conversation was with people from the English FA. Their idea of residency was Lilleshall. Even though they have a much different setup, they have regrets about getting rid of that program. So we need to be careful about statements like, "Yeah, we're going to make residency obsolete."
Why in particular?
Residency has proven that it works. It works in a very challenging and unique country, in terms of size and with all of the unique aspects of youth sports in America. Player development in any sport or area of expertise is different in this country and how we look at it. I know that's a broad statement, but it's the truth.
How so?
You have a country this big, with a culture that values results and winning and being a star, at any age, so early, that it really doesn't matter what happens long-term. It's all about today, about media, getting in the spotlight and all those kinds of things. It clouds our own perception of how to really grow something and nurture and create a program that is really about development and the educational process.
Andrea Canales is Chief Editor of Goal.com.
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