By Mike Woitalla
Tom Sermanni, a 58-year-old Scotsman who has coached Australia’s women for 11 years, was named U.S. women’s national team coachon Tuesday.
On Wednesday he addressed the media and touched on what role he may play with the USA youth national teams, and fielded questions about youth coaching and youth development.
“I would be hoping to be in close contact with (U.S. Soccer Women’s Technical Director) April (Heinrichs) and with (U.S. Soccer Women’sDevelopment Director) Jill (Ellis) in relation to chatting about youth development,” Sermanni said. “How much involvement they want me to have in it isprobably up to them because that’s where their expertise is far greater than mine.
“As a national team coach, I’m a great believer in coaches running their own teams andcoaches taking their own responsibilities in terms of sorting out what they want to do.
Earlier this year, the USA won the U-20 World Cup under Steve Swanson. The U.S.U-17s, under coach Albertin Montoya, were eliminated in the first round of the U-17 World Cup despite going undefeated in group play and conceding only one goal.
“What I would like to be able to do is to be available for coaches at the Under-20 and Under-17 level, and anybody that is attached to youth development, to throw my two bones worth in, for wantof a better term,” Sermanni said. “Certainly, I don’t think it’s my position to come in and try to dictate how the younger teams play. I certainly think, as a national coach,I’d want to have some communications and to be around the youth teams and be visible in that regard and to be involved in that way. As I said, we have people who are doing those jobs and Idon’t want to step on their toes.”
Asked about his impressions of the U.S. youth soccer landscape, Sermanni said:
“Because of the vastness of the country andthe number of programs and club teams that are here, just getting a handle on all the things that happen, getting together a consistent development plan is very difficult and very challenging. Theupside in America is that you have a great variety and vast numbers to work with.”
As for youth coaching, Sermanni said:
“I think technical development is the key.Technical development of youth players has to take priority over physical development. That doesn’t mean physical development gets completely ignored, but when I speak to younger players andcoaches, that’s one of my key phrases.
“Coaches usually say to younger players they have to train harder. What I believe is younger players need to practice better,practice as well as they can and practice on improving how they play.
“By that, what I mean is how well they can dribble, how well they can pass, how good the touch is, how goodtheir understanding of the game is. Rather than look at the training practices from a physical aspect, I think in youth development, looking at your training practices from a technical aspect andimproving how you can actually play the game is most critical and will continue to go that way.
“In the next generation of players, I think physical differences between teams willeventually be null and void and therefore the technical differences and the ability to play and understand the game will become much more critical focus.”
While it doesn’t appear to be his job (it’s actually Sunil’s, isn’t it?), I’m not buying “the vastness of the country” argument any more. Either we have the correct structure or we don’t. Just because no one can get their head around this problem doesn’t mean it’s insurmountable. Seems we’ve just accepted the existing status quo/chaos and thrown our hands up in the air….
I wrote about this before. I simply don’t understand why we think we need to reinvent the wheel. It has been already invented for us by other countries and their success. We need and Sunil really needs along with the USSF to step up and create the Hierarchy that exists with the rest of the world.First off, no club should be granted academy status period!! I don’t care who you are or where you are geographically. The only academy teams will be those that are associated with Pro or Semi Pro teams. All academy teams will be FREE. Please don’t get into the crying game of how about if I live in an area that has no Pro team. Then do what they do in the rest of the world, pack your bags if you are good enough and go live where the academy is and wants you. Period!!!So if we go by that theory then the structure looks like this:1)Academy2)high End Club3) Club4)High School5)recreationObviously all players at a young age start at recreation and their goal will be to climb the ladder, like they do everywhere in the world. Since the academies will be “free” they will be inclusive and not exclusive. Also all National team selections should only come from the academies since we will be following this structure.
Is Australia as vast a country as USA. You’ve got to be kidding Ric Fonseca – USA – 312 million vs Australia’s 23 million. USA Women’s soccer is in fine shape. It’s the men’s side that poses the biggest dilemma. As for his point about technical vs. physical. Ignore the physical at your own peril. Teaching movement, proper running mechanics, and introducing body weight strength exercises at young ages is as important as technical development. If you don’t believe me, just take a look at the injury rates of young women playing the sport. My look at ACL injuries – “ACL – Links, Facts, & Opinions:” http://chirpstory.com/li/25896
Paul, I agree with your analysis of Academy only being associated with MLS or NASL teams, the rest is all glorified rec.
Everyone brought into the higher echelons of US Soccer says the same thing: better youth development, more technical, less physical. Problem is actually making this happens means cracking the byzantine, parochial Balkanized system of amateur soccer in this country. No single person really has the authority to do that.