Commentary
'U.S. coaching is first class' (Derek Armstrong Q&A - Part 1)
- by Mike Woitalla @MikeWoitalla, Nov 22, 2011
Interview by Mike Woitalla
Few individuals have had as great an impact on American youth soccer as Derek Armstrong, who three decades ago pioneered
the fully staffed, multi-team club model now prevalent throughout the USA. Armstrong, who is celebrating his 30th anniversary as head of the San Diego Nomads, was also a founding director of US Club
Soccer and coached the 1987 U.S. U-20 World Cup team. We spoke with Armstrong about the evolution of the American youth game and the Nomads program that has featured future stars such as
Steven Cherundolo, Frankie Hejduk and Jovan Kirovski.
SOCCER AMERICA: You’re believed to be the first full-time, paid
coach in U.S. youth soccer. Now, of course, paid coaches and full-time club directors are the norm. What was the reaction to your arrival back in 1981?
DEREK ARMSTRONG: Everybody
was mainly a mom-and-pop operation. Back then, people didn’t like the idea that someone’s getting paid to be doing this and competing against their team.
SA: What did
you think of the youth talent in the USA when you arrived?
ARMSTRONG: That’s what tempted me. I was on vacation in San Diego visiting Joe Hollow [the real
estate developer who founded the Nomads] and helped train players for six weeks. There were players like Jeff Duback, Arturo Velazco, Steve Boardman. The talent is what tempted me to
give it a go and we went from there.
The youth potential was obvious. The problem was in administration. I started to run into state associations and that kind of thing.
I
didn’t have a clue in the beginning and as I got integrated, I had to fight everybody over common sense things like soccer balls and stupid rules.
The high school thing hit me in
the face in the first season, when I was told I couldn’t have the players for four months. What? Why?
SA: You had fights over soccer balls?
ARMSTRONG:
To the very first State Cup game, I brought a brand new ball from Blackpool [the English club where Armstrong had served as reserve team coach]. The best ball in the world at the time. I told
the ref, I don’t mind you using this today. And he’s got a Coca-Cola plastic ball in his right hand, and he put the two in each hand, and said, “I’m using this one.”
Which was the plastic Coca-Cola ball. Welcome to America. Oh my, what’s going on here?
SA: How did you create a coaching staff at the Nomads?
ARMSTRONG: The first four years we weaned away from volunteer and parent coaches. In 1982, I started coaching at UC San Diego. I started using graduating seniors as coaches.
Joe
Hollow was bit of a visionary. He had a vision of what an American soccer could look like. He was ahead of his time. In other countries, professional clubs took care of youth development, but we
didn’t have that here, so the youth clubs had to try and create a similar structure.
[Note: Armstrong coached the UC San Diego Tritons for 26 seasons (1982-2007), winning three
NCAA Division III men's titles.]
SA: How would you rate the youth coaching in the USA today?
ARMSTRONG: First class. Young guys start coaching at an early
age and have gotten really into to it.
I think we’ve got some really good coaches who are way ahead of the young people in some of the other countries. These guys get into coaching
when they’re in college. They’re looking for a coaching job almost before they finish college. They get a head start. I think it’s quite good.
SA: What are you
most proud of?
ARMSTRONG: I think being out in front and setting an example. I’m proud of that. That we stood for something. Running the thing properly and professionally
at the time when it was amateur.
I think we were a bit of a leader at that. People started looking at what we doing. Like Tahuichi [the Bolivian youth club] was for what we were doing.
Tahuichi going to the Dallas Cup I think educated a lot of people in the United States who had never seen a decent standard of soccer at the youth level.
It took us to a new
level. Tahuichi took our game, the expectations of what is possible with youth to a new level. To a lesser extent, the way we went around was an inspiration to people about how to play the game,
certainly in California. …
Half of the coaches in San Diego worked for the Nomads. I think we were a good influence on soccer.
SA: You coached the U.S. team,
which included Tony Meola, Kasey Keller, Jeff Agoos and Marcelo Balboa, at the U-20 World Cup. What notable memories do you have of that stint?
ARMSTRONG: It was a two-year spell
and I enjoyed that immensely.
That was when the Federation wasn’t as organized as it is now. It was fragmented, and I enjoyed the period because it allowed me to travel around the
country and meet everybody.
I’ll never forget walking into St. Louis for a regional event with [my assistant Steve Heighway]. There were 60, 70 people and you could
almost feel the animosity. By the time we finished we got everybody relaxed and everybody smiling.
Everybody had their own little empire and you were trying to put together a national
program. It turned out to be an enjoyable experience.
SA: How would you compare the USA’s youth talent today compared to the mid-1980s?
ARMSTRONG:
There’s a lot more good players. I’m not at all sure if the diamonds are any larger, the special players. We’re not producing enough special players. For special players,
there’s a different set of stuff that has to go on for that to happen.
SA: How do we produce more special players?
ARMSTRONG: There isn’t one
answer, because there are so many different things needed to make up that environment. ... It’s such a big issue. I think everybody who’s anybody in the United States should be involved in
that question.
(Look for Part 2 of this Youth Soccer Insider interview, in which Derek Armstrong expands on the challenge the USA faces in producing special
players.)
I wish he had started a couple years later. Then I might have made it to the state cup final as a player with the Orange War Hawks!
I would like to hear anyones thoughts about how to produce/develope a diamond player.
Play for a small club that has committed players. Not superstars!! Make sure it is a club that uses minimum subs(1-2) and will play you an age or 2 up to keep challenging you. Practice 3-4 days a week and play at least 2 full games a weekend. Make sure that the club beleieves in a free style attacking style and not defensive where the defenders punt all or 1/2 the time. If you play in this environment you will never get burned out if you truly love soccer as you will play under the stress of doing 1-2 specific duties. This is 1/2 of what I do in my club with my top players where Academies around are always pursuing them but can not produce themselves.
Correction: you will not play under the stress of performing 1-2 specific duties
I'm sure what we had before the multi-team club model was dire and needed improvement, but at what point do we as a nation decide that this model has only gotten us so far and must be revised? The pay-to-play beast has far outgrown our modest roots, and now we've got the tail wagging the dog. Does Derek have any suggestions on how our nation should change the club system to benefit players rather than clubs and coaches? We're relying on the beneficence of coaches to do the right thing, instead of giving them proper market incentives. Yeah, it's a great thing that MLS teams have development squads, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. What about the 75% that aren't within driving distance of an MLS club?
Many potential "diamonds" are never developed because of the "play for pay" Club system.
As R2 Dad says too many talented players are remote to current Academies. Also too many others don't have the money for "play to pay" Clubs and often are never discovered.
It seems to me some form of the Ajax model for developing diamonds is a proper model.
HOW A SOCCER STAR is MADE:
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/magazine/06Soccer-t.html?pagewanted=all
How can a Club be properly compensated for developing diamonds? Should a Club be compensated for developing diamonds.
So, how many current National Team players played for Nomads?
From the website I see Frankie Hejduk and Steve Cherundolo. After 30 years of developing players in arguably the hottest of hotbeds for youth soccer in the USA, they have developed 1 current national team player and 1 former national team player. How many players have played for the Nomads? Perhaps their model is part of the problem? I am not from California, so I may have no idea what I am talking about, but I see the same "models" here in Texas.
Bill, excellent observation. When speaking of or promoting these "Academy" or "model" programs that profit directly from the player, this should at least be the very first question asked- who have you developed? 2nd question should be - how long did you develop them for? 3rd should be-all where were these players developing before you? I know these same models in Illinois biggest promotion is to offer better opportunities and not better development. I am not impressed with any of the Academies here whatsoever. The small Hispanic clubs seem to be the ones developing talent where these model clubs come and prey on offering more exposure. Whole system is f---ed up!!