E M A G G N I V L O THE EV October, 2017
Issue 42 Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer Coaching Newsletter
A Letter to ODP Players Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer recently released the rosters for ODP Callback Tryouts, the second phase of ODP tryouts. Technical Director Mike Barr penned this letter to share with players on how to deal with setbacks and triumphs. The Olympic Development Program is primarily developmental in nature but also a program to recognize players who have potential to make regional and national teams. The players who made the ODP pool teams, and possibly ODP, have been recognized as being the elite players in their age Mike Barr group among the thousands of players who play soccer in Eastern Pennsylvania. Eastern Pennsylvania For those selected, your success is quite an achievement. Our goal is to provide top-level training Youth Soccer Technical Director and competition to all the players and to assist each of you in reaching the next level. Only through hard work and commitment can you expect to achieve that goal. Youth soccer has changed dramatically since I first began coaching. The pressure to make travel teams and to be judged on your playing ability at seven or eight is the new norm and has created an environment that chips away at the enjoyment soccer once brought to children. Adults determining who will be the better players in years to come face an impossible and unrealistic task. I find a great deal of satisfaction when I see a group of kids playing on their own, because we as adults often lose sight that soccer is just a game and meant to be fun. For many of you, this may be the first time you did not make a team, but you bravely stepped forward and approached trying out for ODP knowing there was a possibility you would not be selected. To face that possibility means you are willing to take on an endeavor that may result in failing. For younger players, it was an experience outside your comfort zone. This setback and working outside your comfort zone should make you successful in the future. Examining so many players in only two tryouts is a difficult task. Though we have numerous evaluators present, we as coaches sometimes overlook a player's ability in the tryout process. In past years, many players have come back to make ODP the following year. Others who were cut have come back to compete as regional team players, and in two cases, players who were cut were actually selected for U.S. Youth National Teams. Two of my four children did not make ODP when they first tried out but went on to have success playing soccer in college. Coaches are human and very capable of making mistakes in the identification process. Don't be discouraged, but understand all of us may be faced with other selection processes throughout our lives. The secret to future success may be failing at something you really want. If you are willing to persevere and overcome what may be perceived as shortcomings by others, you will achieve success and recognition. Numerous artists, athletes, actors, politicians, inventors, CEO’s and musicians failed for years before achieving success. Thomas Edison failed 1,000 times before developing the light bulb. He did not see the attempts as failures but 1,000 steps towards his invention. Carli Lloyd was cut from the United States Under-21 team. Morgan Brian did not make her ODP team and is now a star on the U.S. Women's National Team. I draw inspiration constantly from the commencement speech of Naval Admiral and ninth commander of the Special Operations Command William McRaven at the University of Texas in 2014. I suggest every Inside: An parent sit down with their child and absorb the information he provides to those graduates. Here is one small portion from that speech as he Interview with describes Navy SEAL training. I think it’s a powerful inspiration of how failing can only make you better in all your endeavors. Keep in mind Russell Payne 1,000 recruits make it to SEAL training, but only 250 complete the rigorous tests:
A Letter to ODP Players “Every day during training you were challenged with multiple physical events — long runs, long swims, obstacle courses, hours of calisthenics — something designed to test your mettle. Every event had standards — times you had to meet. If you failed to meet those standards your name was posted on a list, and at the end of the day those on the list were invited to a 'circus.' A circus was two hours of additional calisthenics designed to wear you down, to break your spirit, to force you to quit. No one wanted a circus. A circus meant that for that day you didn't measure up. A circus meant more fatigue — and more fatigue meant that the following day would be more difficult — and more circuses were likely. But at some time during SEAL training, everyone — everyone — made the circus list. But an interesting thing happened to those who were constantly on the list. Over time those students — who did two hours of extra calisthenics — got stronger and stronger. The pain of the circuses built inner strength, built physical resiliency. Life is filled with circuses. You will fail. You will likely fail often. It will be painful. It will be discouraging. At times it will test you to your very core. But if you want to change the world, don't be afraid of the circuses.” Maintaining optimism, when others around you look to find blame in the methods of selection or provide excuses to you, should be your goal throughout life. It is more likely a player who experiences setbacks or failures will be more successful in the future. Making the Olympic Development Program does not assure player's success in the future. It does not guarantee scholarships or even the opportunity to play in college. An individual’s work ethic, determination and confidence will carry more weight than being selected to ODP or any elite level team. Soccer probably plays a huge role in your life at this time and in many instances your parents’ lives as well; but it is still only a game and eventually will be a small part of your development as an adult. Ultimately, you will not be judged by your soccer ability but the effort you put forth in contributing to your family and community, your job and providing happiness to others. A state championship, a league championship, an NCAA title and even your selection as an Olympic Development player will just be a memory for you but the impact you make on others will have lasting results and how you will be judged. Don't allow not being selected to get you down. Embark on an effort to become stronger and better at soccer if that is what you really want, or look for other areas to achieve success. In each of us is a hero who only needs a positive outlook and determination to develop and be recognized.
Game Watcher NATIONAL TEAMS
EPL
MLS
COLLEGE
Oct 19, 8:30PM WNT v Korea R
Oct 14, 7:30AM Liverpool v Man utd
Oct 15, 5:00PM Chicago v Union
Oct 22, 2:00PM WNT v Korea R
Oct 14, 10:00AM Man C v Stoke C
Oct 15, 5:00PM Toronto v Montreal
Army/Navy Cup VI Sunday, October 15 2:00pm
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MEET THE COACH
Russel Payne Head Coach, Army West Point Men’s Soccer Now in his eighth season as head coach of Army Men’s Soccer, Russell Payne has quietly put together one of the most impressive resumes in soccer. He was an All-ACC goalkeeper at the University of Maryland during the Terps’ rise in college soccer before embarking on a professional career in MLS, Ireland, The Netherlands and Germany. Payne then took to the sidelines, where he was an assistant on Maryland’s 2005 and 2008 National Championship teams. He took over the Black Knights in 2010, turning the program into one of the Patriot League’s most consistent performers. Payne spoke with the Evolving Game as Army, 8-4 as of this writing, prepares to take on bitter rival Navy in Army-Navy Cup VI, which takes place this Sunday, October 15 at Talen Energy Stadium. Evolving Game: Why Army? Russell Payne: There’s not a real interesting story to it. They contacted me when I was an assistant coach at Maryland back in 2009 after we had just wrapped up our season. We had
a successful run while I was there, winning the national championship in 2005 and 2008. Army called and wanted to interview me. I went up with my wife. My daughter was on the way. We were starting our family, and I wanted to be a head coach. I got up here and was blown away by the people and the sort of canvas, as we called it back then. There was a platform there to build a program. There were plans to build a new stadium, there were plans to upgrade the practice facilities, upgrade the l o c k e r r o o m s , t h e o f fi c e s , upgrade our recruiting, everything. And they all came true. It was a difficult decision at first, because I didn’t have West Point on my radar as most of our recruits don’t have West Point on their radar. But I tell the same story to recruits; I’m recruiting them in the same way I was recruited. You don’t really know how great this place is until you step foot on campus. People have their own preconceived notions on what an academy is like. Mostly they don’t know at all. When you come here and see what the community is like and what the structure that this place provides you for your future— a c a d e m i c a l l y, a t h l e t i c a l l y, professionally—and you go wow, why would anyone choose anywhere else? That’s what happened to me from a coaching standpoint. EG: Your first season your team won three games. How were you feeling after that? RP: I would say “This is going to be harder than I thought.” It was just culture change. When you’re
not used to winning for a long period of time, it’s really tough to get into the mindset of doing the things that can lead to winning on a consistent basis. Everybody says they want to win, but your training habits and your locker room habits, your relationship habits with your teammates and how you approach academics and how you approach the community, those all are things that lead into winning. It takes regular application and work and deliberate action to get to those things. And it took us about three years before we really felt like we were in the right place with those pieces. I was 3-14-1 my freshman year at the University of Maryland. People always think of Maryland program as some glorious program that descended from the heavens. But Maryland was the doormat of the ACC when I got there in 1993. We won three games. By the time I left, we had dethroned (University of Virginia) as the college dynasty and won the ACC. I was Sasho Cirovski’s first recruit. I learned a lot from him on how to build a winning culture and that’s what we’re trying to do.
MEET THE COACH
Russel Payne Head Coach, Army West Point Men’s Soccer EG: What can you tell me about the Army-Navy Cup, the ArmyNavy rivalry? What does that game mean to you and your program? RP: Well, you have to look at it like there are several boxes this game ticks. First and foremost for the players, there are three points on the table in the Patriot League that you have to get after because it has postseason implications. That’s the easy one. The second box to tick, you know, it’s the academy rival. Every sports team on both of our campuses circles this game on their calendar because it means a lot to them, the community, the school and it goes in the record books. And then on top of that, what it’s become, the Army-Navy Cup, over the last five years, is something special and something unique. I would argue that it’s probably the highlight of the college soccer season across the country in terms of support. I don’t think there’s been another game that’s had 10,000plus people. And that’s what we’ll have this weekend. We can fly the flag for college soccer, the entertainment value and the relevancy value of our sport at the college level, because we get big numbers. The game matters. EG: How does the discipline of attending a service academy translate onto the soccer field from a cadets’ standpoint and a coaching standpoint? How do you approach coaching when you know discipline is paramount to that college experience? RP: It’s still a process, you know, inside the gates of West Point,
as it would be outside the gates, in terms of trying to get a young person to understand how when they give their lives some parameters to work from, things can become a little bit easier and freer. Our guys don’t show up like that. They don’t show up structured, disciplined, ready to go and perfect. The four-year process at West Point helps them develop that quality, that character quality, that leadership quality. But it’s the same as what we do on the soccer team every day. We have to train the proper way, because that practice makes the player, and the player makes the performance. So it’s the same as a cadet. How they lead their lives on a daily basis, getting up on time, getting to class on time, eating right, makes the cadet and the cadet makes the university. But there’s not some magic sort of spray that these guys have. It helps that they’re structured to the school and from a discipline standpoint, but if that was the end-all-be-all for making a great player then we would win national championships every
year. Obviously that’s not the biggest factor. It helps to have a captive audience with our players, to know that what they are learning when they are not part of the soccer program is directly translatable to the soccer program as well. I think that helps and would help at any university. If when a student athlete went to class, lived their life in the campus community outside of soccer and then came to the locker room and came to the field, and those same values were translated to the field I think we’d all be a little bit better. EG: Is there anything you know now or gained from this experience that you wish you knew at the coaching staff at Maryland? RP: It’s the ultimate team environment. West Point is the ultimate team environment. And we all know one of the most difficult things is to get a group of individuals to understand that adding their own individual energy builds group inertia and group momentum. That’s the essence of what West Point is doing and has done. We try to bring that to the soccer field and kids understand that.
MEET THE COACH Russel Payne Head Coach, Army West Point Men’s Soccer EG: If you look at the football programs at both Army and Navy, they sort of reflect the military branches in general, in that they’re tough, they grind it out, they like to keep the ball on the ground. In soccer, there is more flare to it. Does your team play with a flare that might belie a military academy? Do you have players that want to show their skill and play attractive soccer? RP: I love this question. Because this is a normal line of questioning in terms of the identities of the academies and what you’d expect. But I will tell you, soccer is a passionate sport. It’s a creative sport. It’s a free-flowing sport. I think if you look across the landscape of soccer, whether it’s club, college or professional, it’s hard to have winning programs if you don’t give players the ability to play with what the sport’s foundations are in. The identity of the school in terms of hard work, working together, teamwork, persistence, grit, all of those things are encompassed in our team. But we are a free-flowing attacking team. We have creative No. 10 types. We’ve got athletic forwards and wingers and freeflowing thinkers on the field and strong backs. And guys with high levels of fitness, but also guys with high levels of finesse. I think you have to have that. And to be honest, if we didn’t have that, I don’t think we’d be able to recruit the players that we get. Because we get guys who come from those backgrounds. EG: You had the opportunity to work under Jurgen Klinsmann with the U.S. Men’s National Team. What was that experience like? RP: That was probably one of the biggest highlights of my coaching
career, working with the top players in our country and coaches. Just incredible. You learn so much and you hope to give as much as you learn to the players, program and federation. And you learn as much from the mentality of the player at the highest level and how that can translate to players in college. Players are all very similar. They want you to care about them as people. They want you to show confidence in helping them improve. They want honesty and transparency. They want to be prepared for training. They want training sessions to be fun. They want to know what the opponents do and what the coach thinks is the best way to beat the opponent. They want you more so to focus on them. There’s no difference in that. It was good to see that at the highest level and be able to reinforce that as I bring that back to my level here. It was very exciting as well. The atmospheres: World Cup Qualifiers, the Copa America, domestic and international travel. It was great and the federation does such a phenomenal job with trying to prepare our teams in the best way possible to win. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
EG: Who were some of your coaching mentors? RP: That’s a good question. Guys who have had a direct influence on me and guys I’ve worked with directly, I would say Sasho Cirovski at Maryland is the easy one, most notable. Lincoln Phillips. He was a national team goalkeeping coach with U.S. Soccer. He was the head coach at Howard University when they won the national championship twice in the 70’s. He’s from Columbia, Maryland, and taught me how to
play the game really. Those two guys were probably the biggest mentors that I’ve had. EG: What is it like for you to see your players graduate from Army? RP: It’s pretty emotional. It’s pretty emotional, because you just become so bonded to your guys. They go through such a wonderful development process here, and they become men. They become some of the most trustworthy men and women in the country. You see them go off to the real world and be commissioned as officers. It’s amazing. It’s an emotional time and you miss them and wish them well. All coaches get attached to their players. The positive thing and the wonderful thing about it is you know they’re going into great work. As a coach and an instructor, you’re part of that process, determining what their future will be. It’s really rewarding to see them come in as these lumps of coal and to leave as these pretty polished diamonds. EG: How many “beat Navy’s” have you gotten so far and how many more do you expect before Sunday? RP: (Laughs) Countless! Countless. You know, it’s one of those things I said to the guys. We need to focus on the three points. Everyone else around us will do the job of the rallying cry of beat Navy and the importance of this game and what it means. We don’t have to worry about bringing that. We just need to understand that we have to prepare for this game to be our best and focus on the details of how to win this game. The emotion and everything else will be brought to us. We don’t need to get caught up in it.
World Cup Fallout: It’s Time To Hit The Streets In the immediate aftermath of U.S. Soccer's latest, greatest failure—a 2-1 defeat in Trinidad & Tobago that ultimately knocked the American men out of next summer's World Cup— critics and fans alike called for a complete housecleaning. The coach, ill-fated savior Bruce Arena, must go. The players, save for wunderkind Christian Pulisic, must go. The president, Sunil Gulati, must go. For too long, these critics argue, the pay-to-play model of the youth game and the structure of American soccer as a whole have hindered our development. Now we face a morass worse than the one Arena’s group encountered in Couva. Can we maintain 30 years of progress without the aid of the one thing that has long pushed it furthest? Answers to questions on such a large scale are never simple, at least not in execution. But if you ask experts who grew up abroad "where specifically could
American soccer improve?" they respond in similar fashion. "What can we do better here? It's funny, but street soccer," Reading United head coach Stephen Hogan told the Evolving Game in the summer. He's not alone in that sentiment. Consider the thoughts of Philadelphia Union midfielder and Bosnian international Haris Medunjanin. "When I was younger, we didn't have nice pitches," Medunjanin told Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer recently. "It was just on the street, four against four, some small field (with) bricks as goals. You play all day. This needs to be basic for every soccer player, because when you play on the streets, and when you play on the big field, you need to be good in small spaces." Contrary to popular belief, U.S. Soccer has pushed initiatives
Dillon Friday Sports Journalist Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer Marketing Coordinator
over the last few years that promote free play. A ban on headers at younger age groups, a move to small-sided games for players 12 and under, the introduction of a build-out line and a “play-practice-play” training method, to be introduced in January, show that the federation values technical development. U.S. Soccer made these changes with an eye on the future.
World Cup Fallout: It’s Time To Hit The Streets That doesn’t get us to Russia next summer, but at least it’s something. The problem may be that it’s not enough. We’re Americans; everything that comes mandated from a governing body, we treat with a level of skepticism. Therefore it’s contingent on us to encourage our kids to just go play once in a while. Canada became a hockey nation on the pond. America became a baseball, basketball and football nation on sandlots and blacktops. Brazil became a soccer nation in favelas. Sports can only grow organically without structure; and American soccer is too structured. The skills that Medunjanin alluded to—the quick turning, thinking and passing—only account for the physical benefits of street or pickup soccer. The
mental advantages are equally important. In any pickup game, players call their own fouls, decide on their own discipline. There are unwritten rules that all, without reminders, are expected to follow. "And when you play on the streets, there's always some trash talking," said Medunjanin. "You need to be tough, going till the end. That toughs you up. I think it's a good fundamental to have as a young player."
Medunjanin, and others like him, learned important lessons through experience rather than education, which is most always a more powerful teacher. When Alexi Lalas called the current crop of American players “underperforming, tattooed millionaires” this is what he meant. They suffered from complacency. They failed to deal with adversity. The loss Tuesday was a perfect example. When the structure broke down—whether it was poor officiating, a sloppy field, or an opponent that parked the bus —the Americans had no answer, in part because they’ve played with structure their entire lives. It’s hard to fight that. The solution to what ails U.S. Soccer may not be a simple one, but the start is: get a ball and go play.
You Still Can!! Wear your colors
Created by Colton Bly
Last Update: Oct 11, 2017
TRAINING SESSION: DEFENDING IN THE DEFENSIVE THIRD Objectives To improve team's (primarily the 3, 5, 4, 2, 6, and 8's) ability to create and maintain compactness, pressure the player with the ball, provide cover and balance, and outnumber the opponent in the defensive third to disrupt build-up and prevent scoring.
Warm up- Pistons 8v4 Cones, Balls, Pinnies Intensity: 4 13:30 min (9 x 01:00 min, 00:30 min rest)
Coaching Points Defending Team Tactical Principles:Make it compact. Keep it compact. Roles of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd defender (pressure, cover, balance). Description Two teams of 4 on the outside pass among each other to draw the middle team out of shape for a penetrating pass. Each teams plays in the middle for 60 seconds. Team who gets penetrated the most in their 60 second round does 15 pushups.
Orientation Phase- 7v6 7v6 Balls, cones, pinnies, AR, 1 full size goal, 2 pug goals Intensity: 5 24:00 min (3 x 06:00 min, 02:00 min rest)
Coaching Points Defending Team Tactical Principles:Make it compactKeep it compactPressure the player with the ball, cover, and balance Description The defending team in blue (1, 3, 5, 4, 2, 6, and 8) look to disrupt build-up to regain possession and prevent scoring against the attacking team in red (6, 8, 10, 11, 9, and 7). Blue's objective once regaining possession is to connect a pass into one of the small goals placed beyond the field boundaries.
Learning Phase: 10v9 10 v 9 Balls, cones, pinnies, ARs, 2 full size goals Intensity: 8 24:00 min (2 x 09:00 min, 03:00 min rest)
Coaching Points Defending Team Tactical Principles:Make it compactKeep it compactPressure the player with the ball, cover, and balanceOutnumber the opponent Description 10v9 on a 3/4 length field with two full size goals. All laws are in effect. ARs will be positioned on both touch lines. The team being coached (blue) has a numerical disadvanage in order to create more time spent defending in their defensive third.
Implementation Phase: 11v11 Game 11 v 11
Coaching Points Reinforce coaching points from training session
Balls, 10 red pinnies, 10 blue pinnies, 2 goalkeeper pinnies
Description Unconditioned 11v11 game. Both teams are set up in a 1-4-3-3 formation.Offsides is in effect with ARs on the touch lines.
Intensity: 10 30:00 min (2 x 12:00 min, 03:00 min rest)
Created by Robert Nydick
Last Update: Sep 17, 2017
TRAINING SESSION: IMPROVE BUILDUP FROM THE MIDFIELD 3RD TO THE ATTACKING 3RD RELATED TO TEAM TACTICAL PRINCIPLES
Objectives Who: We will be focusing primarily on our 7,9,11,6,8,10,2,3Where: Primarily in the midfield and attacking third of the fieldWhen: We will be focusing on play in the build from the middle third into the attacking third.What: We will be focusing correct spacing, creation of diagonal passing lines, and the constant work to create numbers up situations.Why:
Stage 1 WU Attacking Pattern to Goal 8-13-17 Coaching Points 1) Proper Finishing Runs (Vary the runs) of 8v8 the 6, 8, 9, 10 and weak side 7 or 11. Near post, Far Post, Penalty Spot.2) Once the different variations of the exercise listed Balls, Cones, Goals above are introduced timing of runs and patience in the attacking third will be stressed.This includes overlapping and Intensity: 4 diagonal runs to get 2V1's and 1V1's3) Proper delivery and movements from flank 20:00 min players 7,11,2,3. overlap when possible, (20 x 00:45 min, 00:15 min rest) early services is needed. Description The ball starts at one end of the exercise
Stage 2 SS 7 V 6 Exercise 8-13-17 9v7 Balls, Pinnies, cones Intensity: 5 20:00 min (5 x 04:00 min, 01:00 min rest)
Coaching Points 1) Focus on the build up play in the middle third of the exercise specifically the creation of space for greater passing options.2) Focus on the types of passes and decisions that break the back line of an opposing defensive unit to get the best shot on goal possible. This includes but is not limited to diagonal runs of the 7 and 11, checking and supporting runs and decisions of the 9 and 10. 3) Focusing on the runs from deep and the creation of numbers up situations in wide areas from the 2 and 3 in conjunction with the 7 and 11.4) Focusing on the patience and decision making of the
Stage 3: ESS 9 V 8 to Counter Goals 8-13-17 9v7 Ball, Pinnies, Cones, small counter goals Intensity: 5 20:00 min (4 x 04:00 min, 01:00 min rest)
Coaching Points 1) In the middle third we will be coaching spacing and the establishment of quality diagonal passing angles.2) We will be focusing on the patience of the players on the ball and creating an expectation to keep it if an opportunity for a good chance is not on. Therefore the actions of the ball carrier in relation to the other players will be looked at.3) The varying of runs will be addreesed as well as the players ability to find seams and pockets to exploit from those runs.3) We will also focus on increased participation from our 2 and 3 in the attack (in conjunction with our 7 and
Stage 4: Final Game 8-13-17 11 v 11 Ball, Pinnies Intensity: 7 32:00 min (2 x 15:00 min, 01:00 min rest)
Coaching Points 1) Using possession as a tool to manipulate the defensive block of the opposing team. Our 6, 8, 10, 9 must work with all three lines of the game to ensure this. Our spacing and passing lines must be correct to play diagonal balls and test the defensive lines of the opposing team.2) Patience once we build into the final third in an effort to get more and better shots from within the penalty area from our 9, 10, 8, 7 and 11.3) Increased flank play and an emphasis in creating numbers up situations in wide areas primarily from our 2 and 3 and 7 and 11.