How the TURF beat England 

Laura Bassett had done this before.  She sensed the danger--her executive function made the choice--Once the ball was close she would simply reach and lift the ball out safely--right off the field of play, regroup and defend the corner.

Once the decision went into action, then autonomy took over and came face to with FIFA's decision to play the Women's World Cup on Artificial Turf.

This will be the last world cup played on turf.  Technically, tactically and aesthetically it has been a failure. Balls running too far, or slowing unpredictably,  players with rubber flecks on their face, short and abrupt slides In maintaining the turf the organizers have flooded the field with the notorious black tire grounds.  From TV shots above the field looks more like the black lava beaches, so full is the field of the rubber that in slow motion the particles fly up all around every step of the foot and every bounce of the ball. 

 This displacement is energy dissipating and slows every bounce and every step including the final step of Laura Bassett.

As Bassett reached for the ball she was planning on sliding forward but the rubber took hold==on grass she would slide 2-3 feet, with her knee landing softly like a one knee goal celebration, this would allow a long contact on the ball and a more accurate clearance.

In high school I played tennis on smooth concrete.  The speed of the surface was so fast that the aesthetics and style of the game changed completely.  Sharp slices, a stroke otherwise defensive, were inordinately effective, speeding as they bounce low  staying so low at 4 to six inches that return was almost always defensive soft lob.  Surfaces matter.

The amazing Brazilian teacher and coach Thadeu Goncalves of BFUT always says "change the ball, change the surface," in the learning process the challenges of adapting to different surfaces delivers a more well rounded random set of learning challenges that create the player that can adapt.

But do aesthetics matter?  Does it matter if the game is nice? Inventive? Collective, skillful? 

It is the  Women who will shape the next great tactical movements in soccer.  Is 2011 Barcelona the model for all of soccer? I think one day the Women will top it--because who understands the collective better? Once we allow Women to play like Women and not ask them to play like men (Cough: Anson Dorrance). We might see that Women are better at the cooperative, collective group thinking of team tactics.  You can see France moving in that direction and it's beautiful, Japan in the last World Cup was inspiring.

Jonathan Wilson writes that nothing is owed to the fans, to the audience.  That the very first soccer game involved only two teams whose only concern was winning or losing.  And that nothing is owed the fans.

I disagree.  There has always been a relationship between the people playing and the people watching.  Great free play environments of any sport have bleachers, benches, hockey boards where those sitting out can take in and appreciate the game.  Players of any level, for pick up to the World Cup must always balance the beauty of the game with results.

Aesthetics matter.  Skill Matters. Inspiration matters. These things are not the sole domain of men.

Coaches, leaders, and grassroots opperations need to give girls and Women this chance. FIFA needs to give the Women this chance. This is where turf gets it all wrong.

Pros hate it, it;s difficult to run on.  The ball moves to slow.  Learning is too slow. Decisions and slow, bounces are unpredictable.

Understanding the ball in front of her as well as the speed at which she was traveling Basset swung for the ball with her right foot.  It required that the left foot, the back foot, drag the surface--this keeps her body level and prevents the body from falling backward,  allowing her foot to stay on the ball, imparting backspin, lifting the ball safely over the goal and off the field.

But here the turf intervened.

Instead of her toe skimming over the surface of the grass it was stopped by the rubber.  Instead of gliding, Bassett's foot was gripped against the ground, it was abruptly pulled  back, her knee forced down sharply with increased momentum.  This pulled her other foot, the right foot off the ball imparting topspin rather than the planned backspin.  The topspin caused the ball to drop sharply against the bar and into the goal knocking England out of the world cup.  

On grass Bassett slides, her foot stays on the ground sliding on the dirt surface, her right foot maintains contact with the ball and it is cleared safely over the goal ready to reset for the corner kick still sliding on her knees like a beautiful, joyful
goal celebration. 

The world's finest youth academy is not the best developmental system

The world's finest youth academy is not the best developmental system.

Last Summer we brought in the youth academy coaches from GNK Dinamo Zagreb Academy of Croatia, in 2013 they were named a top 6 academy in the 2013 ECA report.  You can read that report here.

I met their Director, Romeo Jozak at the Indianapolis convention,  and he proposed bringing in some academy coaches for a week in the summer working with kids during the day and coach education in the evening.  

It was a a enlightening week. 

During the day the Croations introduced their methodology, they ran formal, precise, functional sessions focusing on simple play with both feet. "We will do everything with two feet."

In the afternoon we would inflate a couple of courts so the kids could play unstructured.  The normally hardbitten coaches immediately lightened up, "these are great, we need some of these" They would sit on the side of the inflatable and watch the game.  THey would join a team and try to hold a court. 

In the evenings they laid out their academy.  It was very good stuff. There are a couple of DVD's I would highly reccomend.  This is certainly a top academy. And they knew it.  They were making the case that it was not just a top 6 academy, it was the world's finest.  Organized, well thought out, systematic. U6 to U20.

One of the evenings they wrote the amount of transfer fees they were receiving and one of the players was Mateo Kovacic.  Inter Milan had paid 17 million Euros for him. My friend Tod lean over, "that guy is an interesting player,."

I was curious to see what characteristics this sort program would produce so I took Tod's advice and looked up Kovacic  on you tube

Ok this guy is interesting.  Look at the sequence at the 24 second mark, Kovacic dribbles into a den of defenders then zips right out again.  He doesn't look like a soccer player brought up in an academy and this little movement gives us a huge hint to his development.   He scoots out so fast, he looks like he's on skates and pulls off a seemingly impossible turn at full speed.

This is a very unusual movement. How do he do it? It's all right footed, he turns the ball with the outside of his foot leaning over and turning the corner at the same time.  The most incredible thing of all is how the heck did he learn it?

I can see it, If a Zagreb coach was there he would say, "hey, Kovacic, what are you doing' use your left foot to make that turn!"  And then they would have 200 perfectly designed repetition progressions to work it out. 

It would make sense that if he had been shaped by an academy with progressive two footed training, his ratio of touches with his left and right would be close.  So I went back to the video and counted touches:

123 touches with his right foot, 9 touches with his left foot. 

Wait, what about "both feet or else?" It was obvious that Kovacic had NOT grown up in their two footed system.  He looked like a street kid to me, confident on the ball, the ability to penetrate, the ability to see around him.  I began to think that Kovacic was NOT a product of this academy.

 So the next day I asked the coaches, 

tell me about Kovacic

What do you want to know?

Well, when did he first come to your academy?

He was 13. He's special. We recruited him .

What was he doing before he came to your academy? 

He was with a small academy, he was a street kid, playing everyday.

So Kovacic, growing up outside the structure of perhaps the top academy in the world, was able to outpace their system playing on the street. He was able to develop that 80 miles an hour right turn, he was able to culture his right foot and  By the time he was 13 he had developed skills so unusual, so effective that he was labelled "a natural" and brougt into the academy. 

And, in order to bring him in they had to release one of their players who perhaps had been in their system since when was 6 years old. whose only fault may have been coming to Zagreb so young. While he is six and working in Dinamo's formal system,  Kovacic is six and PLAYING. 

The world's greatest academy is not the best system of development.  That system, especially early,  is Free Play. 

Roberto Ayala, he came to River plate at 12, before that,  Free Play. Captained Argentina more times than anyone else.

Andreas Iniesta, Discover by Gines Melendez at 12, before that  Free Play. 2010 WC Game winner.

Ronaldo (Phenomeno)  Free Play until 16, WC leading scorer all time.

Mario Zagalo, Free Play until 16, 5 world cups.

"I was not coached until the age of 16. I believe in Play early, Learn Late."   --Michael Jordan

The formal  technification strategies of Dinamo are important, but perhaps, as in the Kovacic model, only after the requisite Free Play has been logged allowing the child and the game to grow together.  Waiting  allows children to gain the maturity and cognitive skills through play necessary for formal work and prevents them from becoming frustrated and discouraged by attempts to handle material they are simply not yet ready to understand. 

TK

Steve Jobs and Johann Cruyff Love JOTP

“The only people who change the world are those crazy enough to think they can”

Two of the greatests products of this century were founded by two singular charactors, just crazy enough. Loved hated, revered, controversial and shockingly similar, Steve Jobs and Johan Cruyff changed the world.

Apple computers and Barcelona (total football) soccer are the two of the greatest products of this and last century.  The two influential figures that shaped them bear striking similarities:

• Both were prodigies, coming early into their chosen passions.

• Both started off as cocky loudmouths that turned people off.

• Both were speaking the truth--which grudgingly kept their friends from totally abandoning them.

• Both were pushed out of the organization they created and loved (Jobs Apple, Cruyff Ajax).

• Both recovered to achieve their masterpiece. 

What lessons do they teach us about building the next great thing? Their own quotes point to common themes:

Build a solid strategy on decision making

Johann Cruyff	Steve Jobs
"Before I make a mistake, I see it coming and then don’t make it."	Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.

Strive for Simplicity 

Johann Cruyff	Steve Jobs
"Playing football is very simple, but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is."	"Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple."

Don’t be afraid to Lead the way

Johann Cruyff	Steve Jobs
"I am convinced that you have to do it like I do. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be doing it this way…"	“…People don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”

Stand by your vision

Johann Cruyff	Steve Jobs
“Live and die by your own ideas”	“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life….Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition."

Take a circumspect worldview

Johann Cruyff	Steve Jobs
“Every advantage has its disadvantage"	"There are downsides to everything; there are unintended consequences to everything."

Embrace the unknown

Johann Cruyff	Steve Jobs
“The hardest thing for players and humans is to understand that there is nothing to understand… "	“The system is that there is no system.”

Don't dumb down the message

Johann Cruyff	Steve Jobs
“You can understand it, once you get it.”	“How does somebody know what they want if they haven’t even seen it?"

Start with yourself

Johann Cruyff	Steve Jobs
“Life is all about working to become the best possible version of yourself."	“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”

Seek Functional perfection

Johann Cruyff	Steve Jobs
“The object is to run as little as possible, not as much as possible"	“Design is not just what it looks and feel like, design is how it works."

Drive toward perfection

Johann Cruyff	Steve Jobs
“That's what we learned [at Ajax]. You tried something, that didn’t work for that [reason] and that. Do it again. Do something different."	I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next.”

An amazing set of similar quotes by two visionaries of our time.  So, how do I know JC and SJ would love JOTP? I don’t, but, I am just crazy enough to believe they would..., and when you get it, then you will know! 

David v Goliath

"We spend a lot of time thinking about the ways that prestige and resources and elite programs make us better off. We don't spend enough time thinking about the ways in which those kinds of material advantages limit our options"  

Go out and get Malcolm Gladwell's new book "David and Goliath" right away. The book succinctly explores our assumptions of advantages and disadvantages and how this worldview shapes our success and failure in very surprising ways.  Be it education, war, business or sports, what we often assume are advantages in fact serve to work against our desire to achieve our goals. And, just as startlingly, what we presume are disadvantages, 

when addressed  smartly, can actually open up opportunities that  can help create something special.

Take-a-ways for soccer

Change the game to win.  Davids actually do well against Goliath's through history, but only when they change the game. The game is set up for the Goliath's, the key is to not engage in that game, but change it.  If you are Vietnam, you don't fight a conventional war. If you are David you don't attack Goliath with a spear, if you are Spain you develop a collective play that does not expose the ball. Want win? to stand out? to become great? You really need a groundbreaking approach.

Look for clues in best practice.   What did the great players actually do? Really do? How did they grow up? Were they in an academy since they were 6? Or did they just play?  When did they start training seriously? Ronaldo (brazil) watched his buddies all take the 3 hour bus trip to Botafogo everyday--he just played until he was 16.  A perceived disadvantage (not playing in a youth academy) was turned into an advantage (more time playing in a best practice environment, allowed to experiment and try things) and shape the way we look at the modern center forward.

Question conventional thinking. Major points of the book show examples of what we think are good for kids, may not actually work. Let's question playing up, elite teams, travel, tournaments, 11 v 11, dome training--question everything! 

Set up Success by setting up failure. We must allow kids to fail, fail and fail better.  Through free play kids are allowed to make as many mistakes as they need. They will edit that down on their own to refine their decision making, eventually finding options the coaches and parents could never have thought of.  By setting things on a platter for kids we underestimate  kids ability to adapt, change and creat something great.

How to get kids to quit video games...

Attack the fun.

“Each time one prematurely teaches a child something he could have discovered himself, that child is kept from inventing it and consequently from understanding it completely.”
― Jean Piaget

Video game companies used to provide the manuals with their games in hopes kids would delve into it's arcania, become experts and dive even further into the game. Companies built levels and levels, their theory was simple: The deeper you got into the game--the more you would loved it.

The manual said: By pushing the B button and the thumb toggle at the same time your avatar could kick off the head of the ninja.

But Kids weren't reading the the manuals, what they did, was just press lots of buttons until they slowly discovered what those buttons and combinations did.  They learned themselves how to kick the head off the ninja.  Soon the  Companies stopped producing the manuals.

And then a funny thing happened. Video games took off.  Kids enjoyed them more then ever. The companies soon observed that the discovery process was totally addictive.  Kids would spend hours and hours just to find a new skill, method or tactic.

Could it be that the discovery of what the buttons did was the fun part?  That the level of the game you achieved was secondary? Video game companies have bet on it.

Now I have nothing against video games, but I have seen the following deprogramming techniques work in other fields to devastating effect. Remember, level of play is secondary to discovery--so it's very simple, attack the discovery, attack the fun.


 HOW TO GET KIDS TO QUIT PLAYING VIDEO GAMES

Step 1)  Actively get involved. Demand that your kids learn it the way the manual says.  (If there is no "Manual" pretend there is one).

Step 2) Park yourself over or behind your kid and watch. beach chairs work great. Watch EVERYTHING.

Step 3) Comment on  mistakes and be more demanding. Say general things like "Let's really want it!" or, "Be aggressive," or, "let's show a little hustle."  This sends a friendly message that you would like to see some improvement from their video play.

Step 4) Make use of the captive audience.  When they are riding in the car really drill down. Try to use specific examples of mistakes and of course stick to the manual. Say things like "It says here that if you  press the B button and the thumb toggle at the same time you kick off the head of the ninja! DON'T YOU REALLY WANT TO KICK THE HEAD OFF THAT NINJA?" (OK to add a little emphasis). 

At this point your child, hoping to continue playing video games, might say something like: "But, I really do want it!" 

At this point refer to the manual to back up your argument "Well, you must not, because if you REALLY wanted it you would kick the head off the ninja.  Your not pressing the B button and the thumb toggle, I don't think you really want it." 

Step 5) repeat steps 1-4.

It won't be long before your son or daughter takes up some other activity (usually one with no manual) like skateboarding or  playing in a garage band.

Your child's days of video games are over.

A US kid is about to play in the Champion's League Final



This is From SI.com, Notice the good and the bad, discovered and given a chance here, but then mishandled and mistreated by US Staff...

LONDON -- The man who's set to become the first American to play in a Champions League final was discovered in a city park in Bradenton, Fla., nine years ago.

"It's absolutely true," said Neven Subotic from Germany, where he's a starting center back for the Borussia Dortmund team that faces Bayern Munich on Saturday in the world's marquee annual soccer event (FOX, 2:45 p.m. ET). Now 24, Subotic is a seasoned six-year pro who has won two German league titles, but in 2004 he was just a 15-year-old kid training with his father, Zeljko, at G.T. Bray Park in Bradenton.

"I was at the park every day, either by myself or with my dad, just working on crossing drills, playing in pickup games, doing everything," said Subotic, whose first name rhymes with Kevin and last name is pronounced SOOB-uh-titch. But little did he know that a coach in the park had been watching him. Keith Fulk was an assistant on the U.S. under-17 national team, which has a residency program in Bradenton, and he would make some extra money by training youth teams in the park.

"I saw this tall, lanky kid," Fulk said. "If Field 1 was taken, Field 2 was open, and this kid would be shooting. He had a big bag of balls, and he'd work sometimes on volleys, sometimes on his left foot, sometimes on headers with anyone who'd serve him balls. But the thing I noticed more than anything was after he did this, he'd run laps around the field: two, four, six laps, even interval training. His work ethic and mentality were like a pro's.

"After two weeks of seeing this kid every day, I went up to him and said: 'Hey, what's your name? What's your deal?'"

Subotic introduced himself and explained his story: That he'd been born in Yugoslavia but fled the civil war with his family when he was 1 year old. That they'd moved to Germany, where they spent the next nine years until they had to leave because their visa was expiring. That they'd been allowed into the U.S. as refugees, relocating to Salt Lake City, where Zeljko had a distant relative. And that they'd moved to Florida so that Neven's tennis-playing sister, Natalija, could enroll in Nick Bollettieri's famous academy there.

Fulk watched Subotic play that weekend on a local under-18 team and in a "Mexican league" amateur game. And even though Subotic had been cut from tryouts for the Florida Olympic Development Program a couple months earlier, he became part of the U.S.' elite under-17 residency program.

"That's really when my life changed," Subotic said. "That was the first time I was in a professional atmosphere. We had training every day, we had great matches, we were learning tactics. It wasn't all about fun. You had to bring performance onto the pitch, otherwise you weren't going to play."

Neven's discovery was also a moment of pride for his father, who had cut short his own hopes for a pro soccer career when the family left Yugoslavia. In addition to learning how to coach his daughter as a tennis player -- "he thought he was like the dad of the Williams sisters," Neven said. -- Zeljko was working multiple jobs in Bradenton to make ends meet. "He was a janitor at the school where the [residency] players went," said Fulk, who compared Zeljko to Earl Woods, Tiger's father.

Subotic's next career break came on a U-17 trip to the Netherlands, when he was spotted by British agent Steve Kelly, who soon arranged a tryout for him at German club Mainz. Subotic received a contract offer from Mainz's rising young manager, Juergen Klopp, and when Klopp moved to Dortmund in 2008 he brought along Subotic, who was acquired on a $5.5 million transfer.

Then Dortmund went on a rocket-ship ride.

"It was something that I wouldn't even dream about," Subotic said. "The year before we came, Dortmund were 13th from 18 teams. Immediately after we came here, we were sixth, the next year we were fifth and the next two years we were first. It was a big change in quality, and nobody really saw it coming because we weren't buying expensive players. We were buying players who had potential."

The big move finally came this season. Dortmund won its Champions League group, made a miracle stoppage-time comeback against Málaga in the quarterfinals and dispatched favored Real Madrid in the semis to reach Saturday's final against a very familiar opponent.

"It's been a wild ride," Subotic said, "and I'm just happy as hell to be in the final. I've even had Facebook messages from my buddies in the U.S., guys I went to school with, and I didn't get any messages when I won the league or the German Cup. You can see Champions League is something that people in America follow."

Ah, America. If you're a fan of the U.S. national team, you no doubt know by now that Subotic represents Serbia at the senior level and not the United States. It's a source of frustration for U.S. supporters, and it's also a complicated story. Subotic played for the U.S. at the 2005 Under-17 World Cup and later for Thomas Rongen's U.S. Under-20 team, but he filed a one-time switch and changed his national-team allegiance to Serbia, which he represented at World Cup 2010.

If you ask Subotic today why he switched to Serbia, he says: "The story is that my whole family, they're all Serbian. Playing for the U.S. is something I was considering, but when I thought about it, you shouldn't try and change your life when you're not really ready for it. It's always better to make a decision that goes back to your heritage. You can never change where you come from, and that was definitely Serbia. I think it's been the right decision."

But there was another element in play. In November 2006, after a U-20 friendly, Rongen told ESPN.com that Subotic, who'd recently moved to Mainz, had "not accelerated over there to the point where we feel he belongs on the [U.S.] team."

Subotic wasn't happy about Rongen's remarks, but whether they caused him to switch from the U.S. to Serbia depends on whom you ask. Subotic says no, not really.

"That didn't bother me that much," he said. "I did find it unprofessional. Even to this day I still haven't met a coach who did the same thing he did. Some things are better left in privacy. But he wasn't the coach for the [senior] national team, which is where I would have gone. It's something I did for my family."

When asked if Subotic would be playing for the U.S. right now if the Rongen criticism hadn't happened, Fulk has a simple response.

"Yeah," he said. "When I went to see him at Dortmund, he told me, 'Coach, something happened and I lost my respect. Then I moved on.' That was the big thing. He was loyal, so he would have played [for the U.S.]. I think Neven has never forgotten that."

Rongen, for his part, is diplomatic when the Subotic topic comes up.

"He's turned into a hell of a center back, maybe one of the best in the world," said Rongen, who did help the U.S. discover dual nationals like Terrence Boyd, Joe Corona and Mix Diskerud. "I don't hold any grudges. If I'm the one who forced that decision, you know, that's the way it goes."

The U.S.' loss has been Serbia's gain, however, and Subotic still has plenty of people who follow him in the States. These days his parents, Zeljko and Svjetlana, live in New York, in Queens, and they'll be on hand here at the final on Saturday.

"You never know how often your son is going to be in the final," Neven said, "so they'll definitely use that chance to be there and support me."

For Subotic and his family, Saturday could be the best day yet in a long and remarkable journey.

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/news/20130521/neven-subotic-borussia-dortmund-champions-league-final/#ixzz2Ty1pX1eR

10 things I learned at SOCCER EX in RIO

Last November, my good friend and fellow soccer idealist, Victor Kasanezky, and I set off on quixotic mission to SOCCER EX in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.  SOCCER EX is  a global soccer business conference that brings together the world leaders in the sport including  international players and managers--the likes of: Carlos Alberto Torres, Ronaldo, Mário Zagallo, Roy Hodgson, Bebeto , Zico, Ruud Gullit, Carlos Alberto Parreira, Roberto Ayala, Jay Jay Okocha, Caju, Paul Breitner, Gaizka Mendieta. and many others. The trip was a chance to test out our ideas with the top clubs and leaders. Our plan was took look closely at past and current trends in youth soccer  from around the world and get thoughts on Free play and its role in that development. Throughout the week we had direct access and often sat down with these leaders to talk about their own experiences, their philosophies, and ideas. Here are the take-aways:

1) THE MOST IMPORTANT TOPIC AT A SOCCER ECONOMIC CONFERENCE IS PLAYER DEVELOPMENT
Players are the drivers of the world soccer economy. No matter if the panel discussion was Imaging, Branding or Stadia, the conversation always drifted to Player Development.  Who is doing it? How they doing it? How is Spain doing it? What about Argentina? What  happened to France?  Is Brazil still the gold standard?  All week it was understood that in developing players it's best to get a handle on those trends that are working, and everyone seemed to be busy doing that, except a few.

Carlos Alberto loved our ideas of reviving free play

2A) IDEAS MATTER
When to teach passing? Tactics? What about physical vs Technical? Individual vs the collective? Winning vs Development?  Countries united with their vision and methods: Germany, Spain, (and to a lesser extent, France, Argentina, Holland, Croatia, and Brazil), are working and moving forward, but, they are also the ones listening and talking about these ideas. But also, they are interested to new ideas, they have eyes and ears open, they are learning as they go. Have an idea that small sided futsal may improve the outdoor game? Well, Spain has adopted Futsal big time, Germany is now just rolling it out nation-wide (they first had to complete a nine month task force report).  Those without a vision (England, USA, some of the African representatives) are divided and defensive of their developmental ideas.  Harnessed with a lack of vision, their minds are made up--and they are busy trying to recreate worked 30 years ago.

2B) IT TAKES TEN YEARS...OF LOSING
Everyone was into the Gladwellian idea that it takes a ten year-ten thousand hours to develop players.  A long term plan is integral. (This is why no one is worried about USA or England, but everyone is concerned about Germany, they are kinda good at planning and executing).  But get ready, 'cause for those ten years, forget about winning. "You can grow the Lemon, or you can squeeze it," Said France's Gerard Houlier.  From the early days of France's Clairefountain, and Gines Melendez' Spain, it takes ten years with no winning at all for the first five--nothing.  Then at 5 years they began to see signs of something.  At ten years they understood.  Reminds me of that Cruyff quote.  "When you understand, then you will know." It takes ten years of great faith.

3) EVERYONE IS GETTING BUSY EXCEPT ENGLAND
Wow, England is clueless. Great league, sure, but they are confounded about about player development.  They did show some neat pictures of a amazing new training center at St. George's park, but seem to have no idea of what to do with it.  When asked directly about player development, current England National team coach, Roy Hodgson, just shrugged his shoulders, "our players will never be as technical as Brazilians...we have no beaches!"  I guess their plan is simply slog on the way they have for the last 30 years (Level of commitment, "get stuck in laddie").  Their approach to the game as compared to the thorough Germans and the professorial French and Spanish was eye opening.

4) BRAZIL IS STILL THE GOLD STANDARD, BUT THERE IS CONCERN

Parreira: "All the greats played Futsal"

 Zico looked worried. He understood the secret to Brazilian development, the street. "We have always had a formidable free play culture, but that is going away." Their method was to count on the streets to generate the next Ronaldo or Rivelino, patiently waiting for the skills to emerge organically. But the lack of space, the building on open spaces, the safety issues are keeping kids from interacting; and, clubs are robbing the most vibrant free play environments too early, from the age of 8 they are signing street kids into academies.  The once vibrant Free Play culture that produced players from Zito to Pele, to Garrincha, to himself was no longer the primary developmental tool.  That role had passed to the clubs and their academies. On the positive side Carlos Alberto Parreira, coach of the '94 World Cup winning team, was upbeat as he sat down with us to talk about JOTP and futsal.  He loved Futsal for kids, "all the greats played futsal, without exception." And, he was high on the future, a new group of young players led by Neymar, Lucas Moura, Coutinho and Oscar are providing hope if not for 2014, certainly 2018.

5) SPAIN IS HUMBLE

Gines Melendez

Gines Melendez,  was happy to see a United States coach so interested in his player development model. He had a PowerPoint ready to present, but his time was hogged up by a academy coach from Arsenal who showed an inane video "highlights of the best goals in the Premier league by players from South America"  What?  Meledez was so excited that someone wanted to know about his seven elements of player development.  "The Seven Elements? You have heard about the seven elements? Follow me." Now this guy is a legend in Spain, having built up the formidable youth system in Spain, he could not have been more gracious.  He wanted to know about what we were doing. He loved the futsal. He loved the tennis ball machine. He sat me for an hour in front of his computer showing videos of Iniesta (he discovered him) and everything else in his computer including key principles of training at key stages 8-11, 12-16, 17-19, and of course those seven elements. He was a big proponent of small sided games for kids and pros. They are striving  for solid human beings, balanced emotionally.  To Spanish coaches who work with them, the humble qualities of Xavi, Inesta and David Silva are not accidents but the crafted results of a human curriculum as important to player development as learning how to receive a ball. 

6) THE POLISH NATIONAL TEAM COACH WAS INTO KICK BOXING
That's because he was the Polish National team Coach for Muay Thai, a sort of world Kick boxing thing. He didn't know much about soccer, but he did know Muay Thai (what he was doing at Soccer Ex, I'm not sure, but he was very interesting to talk to). 

"The best fighters  in the world are from Thailand, where the "play" of muay thai part of their cultural fabric.   From the very earliest ages they are taught to play at fighting. When they fight, they don't fight, they play.  Instead of slugging and Kicking there is brushing and slapping.  It is about fun."  

His point was that this was similar to organic free play soccer where there is competition, but rarely is it zero - sum, rarely are there winners and losers.  

"The kids are not devastated and can come back and play more.  The hours build up. If you could do the same thing is soccer, create an environment of fun, creativity, friendly interaction you could develop a deeper developmental system where kids play at competition and thus play longer creating more and better performance skills."

7) HOLLAND PRETENDS THEY DON'T CARE
They were the most fun.  A bunch of them were obviously here for the party.  They were easy to find,  always moving around in a group or  hanging around the convention girls.  They like to pretend they don't care, but they really do think that winning is important. They like being organized, and they have focused their resources toward identification, aiming to see every kids and get the ones they want into academies.  they have little concerns over missing out on talent, the entire small country is so well connected, They do not however, seem to be talking  too much about trends, about a vision of soccer for the future. They just seem to be 'Germany light,'stuck between winning and developing.  

8) ARGENTINA IS THOUGHTFUL
Roberto Ayala is small. Maybe 5'9".  He is soft spoken and courteous. He takes in everything and pauses to speak. He was a dominant center back, having  captained Argentina more than Maradonna and leading them  and his club team Valencia (Spain) through many great competitions.  He has always been one of my heroes for how he can bring the ball down ("Soccer Tennis")   He was reflective about his own upbringing:

"I never thought of it that way...that free play i was doing when I was 8, 9 10, 11 was important to my development...I thought I was just better than everyone else. But it must be true, cause I was playing more that the others. Still after signing with River I still played with my friends whenever I could."

 He spoke about the still vibrant free play and play cultures that are pumping out talent in Argentina.  There are downsides, It appears that gangs are buying up street players and pitting them against neighborhood gangs, paying the players if they win, beating them when they lose.  He said that Tevez came out of this environment.  You can certainly see why Tevez battles so hard when he plays.  He was now coaching youth at Racing in BA. He wanted to hear about what we were doing in the US and asked to see videos of kids at JOTP training.  He liked what he saw.  "So can I come down and hang out with you guys at Racing?" I asked, "If you bring those kids," he said.

9) FUN IS WELL KEPT SECRET
Every player we spoke to, and we spoke to so many, everyone of them repeated the same story: "we played everyday." Before school, after school recess, with friends.  Caju played barefoot on cobblestones, Ayala everyday aways the same court in Cabilito, Buenas Aries. Alex, everyday, Denilson, everyday. Carlos Alberto, everyday. Mendietta, everyday. Gulit, de Boer, Okocha, everyday.  But there is more, each one of them while recounting the stories would lighten up, smile, laugh--it was almost always their favorite time--just playing for fun.  There was always the talk of fun, it wasn't a code word, it was clear: If you want kids to play it has to be fun. It made us wonder: was it the touches that created soft feet and sharp minds? Or, was it the fun that energized and motivated them when the going got tough latter in there soccer progression--a sort of investment toward their long term development? We all know that without free play there is no world class. But also, without fun there is no world class.

10) GERMANY JUST WANTS TO WIN

I sought out Paul Breitner. 

Famous big hair German left back soccer thinker who captained der Mannschaft in 1982 and in 1974 beat the Clockwork Orange Holland. 

The Germans are serious

"Paul, I am here from Minnesota, you know, close to Canada, I am with an organization, Joy of the People, named after Garrincha. We are trying to grow free play in the United States, we have been talking to everyone about player development and their own upbringing and how free play was incorporated.  What was your development like?"

"I am afraid i am going to tell you vhat you don't vant to hear...from ZE time Zhey are three years old...Germans are trained... to VIN! ...Zhere is no fun. Zhere is no JOY...Ve just Vant to VIN!!"

"Joy of zee People?...Great name"