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En Route: Examining The Shift In Youth Soccer's Manifesto
How U.S. youth technical director, Claudio Reyna, plans to change American soccer.
Jun 1, 2010 5:33:00 PM
By J.R. Eskilson
Lost in the hoopla of the World Cup build-up, there was a speech given last week that could prove to be one of the most important moments in U.S. Soccer history. New United States youth technical director, Claudio Reyna, delivered his plan on how to change youth development in this country.
The focal point of the message: "Start young."
The proposal is to breakdown players into three zones: Zone 1 (6-12), Zone 2 (12-18), Zone 3 (elite players, collegiate, and professional). He wants each level to have set guidelines on fitness, tactics, technique, and psychology. Reyna called it "age appropriate" development.
This means Reyna is attempting to centralize the youth soccer structure. He wants this country to develop players the same way in Florida, California, and everywhere in-between.
Given the unique challenges of United States geography, Reyna's ambition is admirable, but this is trying to get 50 states, countless clubs, and even more coaches on the same page. The goal at hand is a very tough task.
With the same message going to all coaches across the country, this would be a more rigid system than currently employed. Guidelines, structure, and the same curriculum will be the future for coaches in this country under Reyna's plan.
To help bridge the gap, Reyna is attempting to use technology to his advantage, establishing a national library of sorts for coaches with training lessons to view online. The overarching theme is to make coaching information and innovation available to all.
Currently, coaching licenses issued at the base level are given through the state associations. Then progressing up the ladder, you reach the national level when coaching seminars begin to become more standard all across the land. Reading between the lines, Reyna is hoping to drop the state-by-state difference in coaching introductions and begin to assimilate a national standard for coaching education.
Possibly the most important theme Reyna could be conveying in all this is parental inclusion. He said, "We do need to get better and we want to get better, and the easiest way to do that is through coaching." Reyna's attempt to improve coaching consists of encouraging parents to learn more about the sport before coaching their children.
Also, his plans include adding a national tournament for the under 12 year old age group to the U.S. Soccer structure. He wants to put this on the agenda to provide a benchmark for teams. A showcase event to make sure Reynas goals are being reached at the youth level.
These are aggressive changes for the U.S. youth structure. Give credit to Reyna for seeing a problem with the system, making a plan, and now trying to fix it. He mentioned that the Ajax Futures Cup in Holland, which the FC Dallas Juniors team played in, really highlighted the differences between our youngsters and those from other countries.
Reyna has plenty of international knowledge. He played 14 seasons in Europe, he was successful with every team he played for, and he was the second American ever to be voted onto a World Cup All-Tournament team. If he could convey half of that success to the youth system, America is in great shape, but he has never coached, so there is always the mystery of how the player-turned-administrator will handle such a position.
The jury will still be out for a while on this question. These aren't short-term goals for U.S. Soccer. It will take time, money, and patience before any visible change is experienced. As Reyna said, “"We are behind as a country." It is time to play catch-up, just don’t expect to catch-up tomorrow. This is a long-term plan for change in this country.
Patience youth soccer fans. . . but a shift in the youth structure is coming.
J.R. Eskilson is the youth editor at Goal.com. Follow him at twitter.com/NCAAsoccerFacebook fan page! and join Goal.com USA's
The focal point of the message: "Start young."
The proposal is to breakdown players into three zones: Zone 1 (6-12), Zone 2 (12-18), Zone 3 (elite players, collegiate, and professional). He wants each level to have set guidelines on fitness, tactics, technique, and psychology. Reyna called it "age appropriate" development.
This means Reyna is attempting to centralize the youth soccer structure. He wants this country to develop players the same way in Florida, California, and everywhere in-between.
Given the unique challenges of United States geography, Reyna's ambition is admirable, but this is trying to get 50 states, countless clubs, and even more coaches on the same page. The goal at hand is a very tough task.
With the same message going to all coaches across the country, this would be a more rigid system than currently employed. Guidelines, structure, and the same curriculum will be the future for coaches in this country under Reyna's plan.
To help bridge the gap, Reyna is attempting to use technology to his advantage, establishing a national library of sorts for coaches with training lessons to view online. The overarching theme is to make coaching information and innovation available to all.
Currently, coaching licenses issued at the base level are given through the state associations. Then progressing up the ladder, you reach the national level when coaching seminars begin to become more standard all across the land. Reading between the lines, Reyna is hoping to drop the state-by-state difference in coaching introductions and begin to assimilate a national standard for coaching education.
Possibly the most important theme Reyna could be conveying in all this is parental inclusion. He said, "We do need to get better and we want to get better, and the easiest way to do that is through coaching." Reyna's attempt to improve coaching consists of encouraging parents to learn more about the sport before coaching their children.
Also, his plans include adding a national tournament for the under 12 year old age group to the U.S. Soccer structure. He wants to put this on the agenda to provide a benchmark for teams. A showcase event to make sure Reynas goals are being reached at the youth level.
These are aggressive changes for the U.S. youth structure. Give credit to Reyna for seeing a problem with the system, making a plan, and now trying to fix it. He mentioned that the Ajax Futures Cup in Holland, which the FC Dallas Juniors team played in, really highlighted the differences between our youngsters and those from other countries.
Reyna has plenty of international knowledge. He played 14 seasons in Europe, he was successful with every team he played for, and he was the second American ever to be voted onto a World Cup All-Tournament team. If he could convey half of that success to the youth system, America is in great shape, but he has never coached, so there is always the mystery of how the player-turned-administrator will handle such a position.
The jury will still be out for a while on this question. These aren't short-term goals for U.S. Soccer. It will take time, money, and patience before any visible change is experienced. As Reyna said, “"We are behind as a country." It is time to play catch-up, just don’t expect to catch-up tomorrow. This is a long-term plan for change in this country.
Patience youth soccer fans. . . but a shift in the youth structure is coming.
J.R. Eskilson is the youth editor at Goal.com. Follow him at twitter.com/NCAAsoccerFacebook fan page! and join Goal.com USA's
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