Interview by Maddy Shiber
Shaun Tsakiris, coach of Northern California club De Anza Force’s U-14 boys team, was named U.S. Soccer Development AcademyCoach of the Year for the West region. As a player, Tsakiris won the 1997 NCAA Division I title with UCLA and played in the 1999 U-20 World Cup, where his teammates included Tim Howard, TaylorTwellman and Carlos Bocanegra, and where he played against future stars such as Spain’s Xavi and England’s Ashley Cole. We checked in withTsakiris to talk youth soccer in America.
When and why did you start coaching?
SHAUN TSAKIRIS: Even when playing at UCLA, I would help out withlocal youth teams in L.A. I was diagnosed with cancer when I was 26 and that cut my pro playing career short. I’ve always enjoyed working with kids and I knew that I wanted to stay in the game,so coaching made the most sense.
What do you enjoy most about coaching?
I love having an impact on young people’s lives and getting them on the right trackin terms of making sure they’re taking the necessary steps toward being good people. Yes, we want to develop them into being good soccer players, but it’s also necessary to create goodcitizens and good young men. It’s important to be good people in addition to being good soccer players.
What do you like the least about coaching?
Dealingwith parents. Unfortunately, the way that this sport is structured in the United States, parents have a lot more say in the development of the kids, the playing time, and overall have more influence.However, for me it’s pretty minimal and not as big an issue as some coaches say it might be.
Do you have examples of something one of your coachesdid that you have adopted as a coach? Or anything your former coaches did that you avoid?
I absolutely look at past coaches I’ve had and take things away from them that I like. Ialso look at things that I didn’t like and figure out why I didn’t like it, then try to change that and apply it to my players.
My message to my players is always the same:You might not love everything that we do, but take away all the positives that you’ve learned and the things that you do like, and put it in your bag of knowledge to take with you when you moveonto the next level or the next stage in your career.
What’s the biggest mistake youth coaches make?
There’s such a huge emphasize on winning, and part of itis this culture that we have. Even if they’re not developing at the rate they should be, it seems to be fine as long as they’re winning the tournament or winning the match. That’s ahuge issue in developing young players. Certainly, winning is important, but it’s not the priority. We need to be developing players, and the winning will come later.
Whatwere your favorite players growing up and which teams do you enjoy watching most now?
Growing up, I idolized individual players such as Diego Maradona andFernando Redondo from Argentina. Being left-footed players, I always tried to emulate things they were doing. I saw them both play in person about five or six times, and that’ssomething I’ll never forget.
I have three little kids of my own now, and I love hearing them talk about Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, justlike the way I used to look up to players when I was younger. I also love hearing my players talk about it and being very involved.
I’ve also enjoyed the Barcelona team from a coupleyears ago. That is a team we’re very lucky to have seen and experienced. I admire Pep Guardiola and try to emulate his coaching not just on the field, but also for what hestands for.
Just like Barcelona’s motto “More than a Club,” the team is a family and the way they conduct themselves is also very important, something I try to stresswith my team.
How would you rate the USA’s performance at the 2014 World Cup?
I’m proud of our country and the direction we’re going, and that our teamwas able to represent our country the way they did. Everyone has their own opinion about what we could have done differently but overall there’s no question that the buzz surrounding the gamesand the following of fans around our team is getting bigger and bigger.
What’s your advice for coaches at the youngest ages?
You have to make it fun. It’sstill a game, and needs to be enjoyable for the players and for the coach. We often forget that it’s still a game, and I know that I push my players and I demand a lot, but we should neverforget that it still needs to be fun and enjoyable for everyone involved.
If you had a magic wand, how would you use it to improve American youth soccer?
I woulduse it to put our entire country on the same page in terms of developing players. We have such a big country so it’s very difficult. We should be developing kids and top players at a much higherrate, but we don’t universally have the structure and place. We need consistency for our young players. We need a common vision and understanding to work toward a common goal of developing topplayers.
Shaun Tsakiris
Club: De AnzaForce
Hometown: Saratoga, Calif.
College: UCLA (1997-2000)
Senior Career: New England Revolution (2001) Rochester Rhinos(2002-2005)
International Career: 1999 U-20 World Cup
I watched Mr. Tsakaris play at Bellarmine and had friends that played wih him at UCLA and while I played at SJSU many friends I played with brought up his name and boy was he a damn good player. Great technical player and great awareness on the field. Good to hear he beat cancer and if he is as good as a coach as he was as a player, it is no wonder he recieved this award.
Major problems to correct:1) Change the Metric to the kid making the next level, not championships at 3-8th grades.2) American parents drive #1… they think winning is it, that leads to another problem, paid coaches and clubs and DOCs (let’s be honest) succumb to the pressure of winning at these younger age and the $ that parents bring in – change the parent attitude of what success is, and that will help change the culture of $$$, Win/win/win at the expense of real player development (ever play the guest players more than your players because you want to win?)3) We lack Pick-up games, unstructured play where you are allowed to be creative, fail, not get yelled at, develop a love for the game, get more touches, no pressure, no coach or parents yelling at you, or the other guy’s kids… Figure out ways to foster pick up games… a club volunteer for no pay play in pick up games(BTW, if kids love it, they’ll keep coming out to the paid events), charge nominal amount ($5) to get kids out and parents thinking they are getting something for paying, and/or an adult picking up a little bit of cash just to be there for safety reasons, etc. Parent volunteers could do this independent of club (or with club facilities), or club sponsor
This is the problem I have with some coaches. What do they hate? The parents. They always biting the hand that feeds them. Instead of hating how about reaching out to the parents and doing what was most business do…customer service. The parent has a responsibility it is for you to tell them the expectation for their child. Be honest and tell them about playing time and why their child may not get the time needed. Every team has very strong player and players that are serviceable to the team. Stop the hating on parents. They pay the dues and drive the cars. But the coach needs to layout the truth to the parents so that they can understand
What a great article. Wouldn’t be nice if that all youth coaches commit to this philosophy? I remember the day that my family gave him his first soccer uniform and boots.
Finally. I hear someone say it….”…We have such a big country so it’s very difficult….” I’ve always thought this to myself, but never said it out loud or voiced that opinion on a blog. Is our country too big to get 1,000,000 players (just a random guess) and 100,000 coaches (another random guess) on the exact same page for player development?
Sorry, Patrick, for every soccer-educated ,enlightened and open-minded parent out there I count 10 dolts who know nothing about the game and think because they write a check every month they can therefor dictate to the coach who should play, for how long, which formation, etc etc. Parents have by-and-large earned the vitriol.
Mr Bell, there is no customer service when choosing the best players for a program or a national team. Your approach is what is actually hindering US soccer because soccer used to be a working man sport now if parents are paying for development and don’t get it they ask for a refund or force the coach to play a player in an environment where quite honestly there son/daughter isn’t good enough. You want honesty there it is!