U.S. U-17 boys national team coach John Hackworthhas pared down his roster for the Nike International Friendlies, at which the USA will face England, the Netherlands and Brazil, to 20players. Four players were released after a preliminary camp and will join their clubs at the 2017 U.S. Soccer Boys’ Development Academy Winter Showcase, which runs […]
youth boys
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
Well-planned campus visits are key to making the right college connection
We’re starting to plan college visits for our high school children. They’d like to play soccer. What advance work should they be doing ahead of arriving on a campus? For many highschoolers, campus visits are essential to making the right college connection. Some student-athletes receive letters of interest from college coaches or invitations to make […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
Dear Coach: Throw away your 1,000 Drills
Did you just purchase 1,000 drills for five dollars online? Get a refund, now. We seem to have embraced a circus approach to training or what I like to call “short attention span theater.”Coaches feel that we need to change a drill every six minutes and then make up sensationally complex exercises to keep the […]
Posted inSoccer America Confidential, Story
Tom Byer: Look to parents, not coaches, to create skillful players
When New Yorker Tom Byer, who has spent more than 20 years of running youth soccer programs in Japan, was appointed the Head Technical Advisor by the Chinese Football Association in2012, The South China Morning Post announced that the man who is regarded as a “superhero” in Japan is leading the “Chinese soccer revolution.” SOCCER […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
Why we over-coach, why we shouldn't, and how not to
While returning the player cards to a coach of the 9-year-olds I’d been reffing, I told him I noticed he had coached throughout the entire game, that he had not gone one minute without yellingsomething from the sidelines. This was a friendly guy who didn’t get defensive about what he could have taken as criticism. […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Nike Friendlies and Winter Showcase expanded to include women's components
The 15th edition of the Nike International Friendlies and U.S. Soccer Development Academy Winter Showcase have been expanded to include the first Women’s Nike International Friendlies and a WinterShowcase for teams in the new Development Academy for girls. The USA will take on U-17 men’s counterparts from Brazil, England and Netherlands. The tournament will feature […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
Cruyff disciple Todd Beane on street soccer, coaching education and the current Dutch crisis
The Dutch star Johan Cruyff had a profound impact on the soccer world as a player in the “Total Soccer” years of the 1970s and as a coach, especially while in charge ofBarcelona’s “Dream Team” of the late 1980s and early 1990s, when he had great influence on Pep Guardiola. American Todd Beane, a coach, […]
Posted inStory
Pay-to-Play: The complexity of high-cost youth soccer explained by former Bay Area club president Eric Sippel
By Mike Woitalla To gather further insight into American youth soccer pay-to-play, we speak to Eric Sippel, who has vast experience in youth soccer and the financial world. A Stanford law schoolgraduate and nationally recognized hedge-fund executive who is now a private investor, Sippel, during his eight-year tenure as a youth club president in Oakland, California, […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They're Saying: Darryl Gee
“My life was a whirlwind from the beginning. I was always going 100 miles an hour. Growing up, I missed a lot of stuff. Now that I’m semi-retired, I’ve decided to do all of thethings that I didn’t do, as a kid — and I feel a sense of inner peace.” — Darryl Gee, who […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
USA-based Soccer Without Borders wins 2017 FIFA Diversity Award
USA-based Soccer Without Borders has been awarded the 2017 FIFA Diversity Award, which was launched in 2016 to recognize an outstanding organization, group initiative or personality that is standingup for diversity and anti-discrimination. “It is truly an honor to be recognized by this,” said Ben Gucciardi, a founder of Soccer Without Borders. “Soccer Without Borders […]