World's Greatest 46 year olds

The New US Soccer Curriculum has just been released, presented by U.S. Soccer Youth Technical Director Claudio Reyna to great fanfare at Nike headquarters by for the Nike/Sparq Soccer Summit in Beaverton, Oregon. The presentation was delivered by Reyna to soccer leaders around the country including US Development Academy coaches and administrators.

Reyna was named Technical Director of US Soccer last year and has been spending the past year working on a new curriculum (called Ominously, THE CURRICULUM), it was written by Javier Perez, a former youth director at Real Madrid.


The Opening speaker was Daniel Coyle, the author of the talent code, a seminal book on the building of expertise, if you have not read it here's a quick recap. If you want to be world class, you don't have to work hard, you have to work incredibly hard, specifically for 10,000 hours. Accumulate enough correct practice and next step, world class.



So US Soccer comes up with a plan from U6 to U18 to develop those high performers, problem is no one at US Soccer seemed to add up the hours in the curriculum. Starting at age 6, and finishing off at age 18, the Curriculum is an amazingly thorough, well thought out plan to develop soccer players in the US. From 6 to 18, that's 13 years of soccer, the hours (being generous) of training and games add to ..... 3,333.... total! At that pace, according to Dan Coyle, the players who participate in this well thought out, thorough program will reach that 10,000 hour expertise level at the age of 46! Let's start up an over 40 world Cup, we'll dominate!

The Curriculum is just that, it's a collection of all the technical, tactical, physical, psycho-social, (that's what their calling it now), but it's incomplete, striving to be comprehensive, it actually leaves too much to chance. Soccer development does not have to be a black art, listen to what Coyle is saying, If you want a shot at high performance success, you must put in the hours. The kids who will succeed in soccer will put the balance of those 10000 hours in before they're 19.

I think Claudio Reyna, would tell you that the curriculum is not the total picture of a players development, just relying on training and games to develop players is not enough. Players need to play, on their own, with others informally and deliberately. These are the players who will have the chance to succeed.

Here is the Goal of the Curriculum from the US Soccer website:

...the new curriculum (is) designed to improve development of players in the organized player base in the United States. The curriculum concentrates on creating more organized, age-appropriate training sessions, developing coaching practices and creating an environment that is fun for players.

Yes, creating a training session that is fun, age-appropriate, and beneficial takes planning and experience. But we tend to think great players are one key drill away. Now really, how important is it to be coached to the Curriculum 6-12? Reyna himself was coached by his dad. Maradonna did not have a coach before 12, Zidane as well, Ronaldo age 16. The problem lies in the environment of winning, competing, over coaching and the lack of play. We all know practice is more important than games, well, what's more important than practice?

Play.

It's the only way to that 10,000 hour mark. This is from one of my earlier posts 3/15 "play like you're broke."

Nourdine Boukhari, a Dutch-Moroccan soccer player who grew up in an immigrant neighborhood of Rotterdam, recalling his childhood in a dutch magazine:

"I lived more on the street than at home...And look at Robin Van Persie, Mounir El Hamdaoui and Said Boutahar. And I'm forgetting Youssef El-Akchaoui. [Like the other players Boukhari mentions, El-Akchaoui is a current professional soccer player.] Those boys and I played on the street in Rotterdam together. We never forgot where we came from and that we used to have nothing except for one thing: the ball.... What we have in common is that we were on the street every minute playing soccer, day and night. We were always busy, games, juggling, shooting at the crossbar. The ball was everything for me, for us."

5 players, one neighborhood, US soccer would love to develop players like this.


This play foundation tends to get overlooked and qualified as recreational. But play is the fun part, it is the part where great performers spend the balance of their time. Play settings on the street, in parks with friends. I would argue that for kids, free play is where Coyle's "Deep Practice" is found (sometimes called "Deliberate practice by others). It is here, without the coach, with the locus of control directly in the child's hands, with the feedback mechanisms in place, with the ball at their feet, and with a small sided engagement with friends, where the thousands of hours are banked, where champions are made. There was never a great player who did not play a lot. Look at the histories of Maradonna, Messi, Zidane, Rivelino, 60 to 70% of those 10,000 hours Coyle talks about were put in in play settings. Without these hours there is no expertise. No world class. And no need for a new Curriculum.

US Soccer needs to look more closely at the hours NOT touched by the coach. NOT controlled. US Soccer needs to think about the foundation of it's sport, educating soccer leaders on the social, emotional, technical and tactical benefits of free play, US Soccer should partner with municipalities and lobby for the building of outdoor futsal spaces, the conversion of unused tennis courts and and half size fields that the clubs don't want to practice on, but places where pick up thrives. US Soccer needs to make this a priority, being honest with coaches, youth leaders, parents and players, adhering to the curriculum pales in comparison to the importance of getting out and playing.

Do this and Us soccer will see the hours add up, and the curriculum become a useful tool.


tk