Claudio Reyna and Youth soccer

Oh please, I am so tired of people giving Reyna, and Klinsmann, credit for all this. The development academies and their pursuit of quality training, less games, and a consistent style for the nation's top players started back in 2007. It was well thought out and based upon the success of Bradenton (Donovan, Beasley, etc) and what the world's top soccer nations do. So this was all being implemented back when Reyna was trying to dribble the ball, rather than pass, out of the back, only to be dispossessed and help get us eliminated from the 2006 WC.

Pushing futsal is not Reyna's idea either. It's been big in Cleveland for years. Lots of kids play it in the winter, and a lot of coaches push it. So if it's big here in the midwest, I'm willing to bet it's been big on the coasts for even longer. Locally here I do know of some highly regarded coaches that recommend against it because they think indoor soccer is better, but what they really mean is they dont want to loose your money to futsal. So for that reason I'm glad Reyna, as the director of US youth soccer, is advocating futsal. It exposes these coaches real motives.

The thing I see getting popular now and that my kids play a lot is street soccer. More creative than futsal and usually only played 2 v 2 or 3v 3 with no goalie (really small goals).

Heather as far as 11 v 11 for 9 and 10 yr olds, I doubt anyone is doing that anymore. We've been involved with youth soccer for years 12 years and small sided games have always been the norm. U8 through U10 plays 6 v 6, U11 - U12 plays 8 v 8, and U13 & above plays 11 v 11. It works really well, the young players see plenty of the ball while still getting exposed to the basic positions of defense, midfield, and forward. Also, in areas where you play indoor soccer, you typically see 5 v 5 or 6 v 6 at all ages.

One change that has been implemented since Klinsmann and Reyna have been in charge is that Development Academy players can no longer play soccer for their high school. Some of the Academy Divisions had already implemented that rule, but it has only just become mandatory across all the academies. I think this is a terrible change for so many reasons. It's a mistake to take choices away from players as young as 14 yrs old. It's a mistake to de-couple soccer from academic performance at such a young age, especially when you are trying to make DA soccer available to poor kids. As the article said, only 1% of the academy players will ever play for a national side. No high school soccer means no opportunities for need based scholarships to good private school for poor players. So by doing this they are taking the opportunity for a good education away from some players. The fact that they have had to implement a grandfather clause for current academy players on scholarships at private schools only demonstrates how bad the rule is; and gives private school's an even greater advantage over public schools than they already had. Furthermore, it's wrong to take away all the meaning and pride that comes from representing your school and your community. It's very similar to representing your country and now you run the risk of not developing that sense of pride in our future players. I could go on, but I'll stop with that.

 

Street soccer. You might want to mute your audio. I know you will find this shocking, but Nike even markets shoes specifically for street soccer.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLUuXRgGtws&feature=related[/youtube]